Liu Xiang and his gang were reluctant to tear their faces with Haihan, of course, not only because they were afraid of the armed militia of the two platoons stationed in the Guangzhou Office. More importantly, the influence of the Haihan people in Guangdong is already considerable, and not just anyone dares to reach out to them, even lawless pirates have to have some scruples.

First of all, there is no doubt about the financial strength of the Haihan people, the Haihan goods sell well in Guangzhou, and the daily income is gold, and the "Haihan Bank" under its name is currently the most famous money village in Guangzhou, and the current silver circulation is also one of the highest, almost all the trade related to the Haihan, and the delivery of silver money is carried out through the guò "Haihan Bank". And after this economic power is projected to all levels of society, the influence caused by it is also quite huge, whether it is a high-ranking official or a peddler pawn, it is now a trend to talk about topics related to Haihan.

Secondly, the Haihan people now also have a certain influence in the Guangzhou officialdom, vigorously promoting the cause of chemical transformation in Guangzhou, pacifying the Liukou in the first battle of Panyu, absorbing a large number of disaster victims in the form of work-for-relief, and showing goodwill to the new governor of Guangzhou, all kinds of measures have made the people in the Guangzhou officialdom polite to them. Moreover, because the government had previously issued a special announcement for Haihan's affairs to absorb the disaster victims, Haihan also had a certain credibility among the people, and even some people would understand some of the rules formulated by Haihan himself as the meaning of the government.

Finally, there is the current armed force of the Haihan people, in addition to the Haihan militia stationed in the Guangzhou Office, there are also nearly 300 armed personnel under the name of "Golden Shield Security" outside the city of Guangzhou. Although these people are private armed forces under the name of the Li family, they can also be used by the Guangzhou Office. Forty miles outside the city of Guangzhou, the large immigration camp built by the Haihan people in Lijiazhuang, Panyu County, also contained 100 militiamen and more than 100 members of Lijiazhuang's village protection team.

In the vicinity of Guangzhou alone, Haihan had more than 500 troops at any time. This does not seem to be a lot of manpower, but in the battle of Panyu a few months ago, the Haihan people used five or six hundred troops to severely damage the thousands of rogue soldiers besieging Lijiazhuang, and Liu Xiangke did not arrogantly think that the combat effectiveness of his men after landing on the shore could be much stronger than the bandits on land. What's more, in addition to these manpower, Haihan also occupies a small island at the mouth of the Pearl River, which not only has forts, militia soldiers, but also several warships equipped with artillery patrol the surrounding waters every day, which is simply a sea fortress.

The Haihan people are rich and powerful, and they also have strong private armies, and Liu Xiang doesn't want to gnaw on such hard bones unless they have to. As an envoy, Liu Xin naturally adhered to this concept, and although Marik in the Guangzhou Office had been going around in circles and did not give him a positive response on the issue of arms trade, Liu Xin still reluctantly chose to continue the negotiations instead of the usual threat of force used by the "Eighteen Zhi" -- of course, he also knew very well that the trick of using force and threats against the Haihan people might not work, and perhaps it would provoke these guys and further intensify the contradictions between the two sides.

However, continuing to drag on like this is not the solution to the problem, Liu Xin was given half a month of activity time before his departure, and now more than half of it has passed, and the negotiations between the two sides have not made substantial progress. If we continue to talk about it according to the current model, I am afraid that we will not be able to talk about a decent result at the end of the year, so how can Liu Xin go back to return to his life?

After another day of waiting in a restless mood, the heavy rain that had been going on for many days finally stopped. Liu Xin hurriedly asked the innkeeper to contact a carriage and rushed to the Guangzhou Office outside Guangzhou. This negotiation was stopped for two days due to the weather, which has made Liu Xin as anxious as an ant on a hot pot, if the Haihan people prevaricate and say that they haven't thought about it yet, Liu Xin will really be angry.

The heavy rain turned the roads of the entire city into mud, and some low-lying areas of the city were even knee-deep swamps due to poor drainage. Liu Xin sat in the carriage and saw many people sitting under the eaves on both sides of the road with packages and jars on their backs, all of whom seemed to be victims of the heavy rain.

Liu Xin's carriage finally broke through the chaotic traffic, but when he arrived at the Guangzhou Office, he found that the traffic situation here was far worse than that in the city. By the time we were still a mile away, the road was already blocked by a crowd of victims. As far as the eye can see, there are at least two or three thousand people gathered in this area outside the Guangzhou Office, and now there is no need for government propaganda at all, and the people near Guangzhou know that the Haihan people have been helping the victims.

Seeing that the carriage could no longer pass, Liu Xin could only choose to get out of the carriage and walk, squeezing through the crowd with difficulty, and from time to time he would be ridiculed by the people around him: "What is the squeeze, the Haihan people have to line up to put grain, do they understand the rules!"

Liu Xin could only turn a deaf ear, and finally squeezed to the door, and before he could speak, two militiamen in gray uniforms pushed him aside: "Line up! Go to the back and line up!"

Liu Xin hurriedly identified himself: "Under Liu Xin, he is not a victim of the disaster, he is here to do business in Guangzhou, and I will bother the two of you to pass it on." ”

"Oh, what's the matter?" one of the militiamen asked. Today, a large number of victims of the disaster have poured out of the Guangzhou Office, and orders have been issued from above to strictly prohibit unrelated personnel from entering and leaving the Guangzhou Office at will, so the inventory is much stricter than usual.

Liu Xin naturally couldn't tell these grassroots personnel that he was here to negotiate, so he could only find an excuse: "The next time I came here, it was brought in by Brother Yu, and the two of you just had to let Brother Yu come out once." ”

The "Brother Yu" mentioned by Liu Xin is Yu Xiaobao, who was assigned to work in the Guangzhou Office last year, and is now the director of the external reception affairs of the Guangzhou Office. Although the two militiamen were a little suspicious, they reported this information anyway.

After a while, Yu Xiaobao came out of the courtyard: "It's Mr. Liu!

Liu Xin thought that I didn't come except for the past two days, and I came almost every day a few days ago, which is a rare visitor. However, there are many people at the moment, and he doesn't argue with Yu Xiaobao, he raised his hand and hugged his fists, and followed Yu Xiaobao into the courtyard.

"I don't know which chief Mr. Liu is coming to meet with today?" Yu Xiaobao took Liu Xin to the living room where he first entered the courtyard, and asked people to make tea and serve snacks, and then asked Liu Xin's purpose.

"The last time I came to visit, I made an appointment with Boss Ma to meet the day before yesterday, but I couldn't travel because of the rain two days ago, so I didn't come until today. I wonder if Boss Ma is available now?" asked Liu Xin.

"That's ......" Yu Xiaobao nodded slowly: "Chief Ma is busy with affairs, if the agreed meeting time has passed, you need to make another appointment." ”

"But this is a hurry, we can't wait!" Liu Xin immediately couldn't sit still.

"It's useless to be anxious, Chief Ma has other arrangements today, and now he is not in the Guangzhou Office. Yu Xiaobao said helplessly: "Because a large number of victims came to ask for help early this morning, Chief Ma was afraid that the food in the Guangzhou Office would not be enough, so he had already taken people to Panyu to carry the grain." It is estimated that he will not be able to come back today, so Mr. Liu can make an appointment for tomorrow. ”

Liu Xinxin secretly cursed a foul language, and asked unrelentingly: "Then what about a boss surnamed He?"

"Chief He is here, but he is busy dealing with the victims outside, and I am afraid that he will not have time to see you for a while......"

"I'm willing to wait!" Liu Xin didn't wait for him to finish speaking, and then hurriedly said: "I'm tired of the little brother to pass it on." With that, he took out a piece of silver from his body and headed towards Yu Xiaobao.

Yu Xiaobao skillfully pushed away Liu Xin's bribe, and smiled: "This is not necessary, we Haihan don't want this." Then please sit here for a while, Mr. Liu, and I will pass it on for you. ”

So Liu Xin could only sit down obediently and wait, but fortunately, although the office in Guangzhou was grinding, but the treatment of people was not ambiguous at all, there were four-color pastries and snacks on the table, and there were fried goods such as melon seeds and peanuts, and the tea was also the best Tieguanyin, but Liu Xin, who went out on an empty stomach, had time to replenish his energy.

However, this wait still made Liu Xin wait enough, and it was noon in a blink of an eye, he urged several times, and Yu Xiaobao deduced that He Xi was still busy outside dealing with the relief affairs of the victims. There were already seven or eight people waiting in the living room one after another, and it didn't seem to be a hypocrisy to look like this, and Liu Xin could only continue to wait honestly.

After eating a lunch provided by the Guangzhou Office at noon, Liu Xin's sleepiness couldn't help but come up. He had been so anxious for the first two days that he had not been able to sleep at night, and as soon as his tense nerves relaxed, he dozed off as he sat on the wicker chair.

When Liu Xin woke up, he found that it was already dark, and the people in the living room who were waiting with him to meet him were all gone. Liu Xin hurriedly got up, went outside the house to find Yu Xiaobao, and asked if He Xi had returned.

Yu Xiaobao nodded and said, "Chief He will come back in the afternoon, but seeing that Mr. Liu is sleeping soundly, he specially told him not to wake you up." ”

Liu Xin couldn't care about being angry at this time, and hurriedly asked, "Then where is Boss He now?" Take me to see him quickly. ”

"Chief He is not in the Guangzhou Office now......" Yu Xiaobao said slowly.

Liu Xinren was about to go crazy: "Don't use excuses to prevaricate me, I know that your two bosses are deliberately avoiding me! Take me to meet them!"

"People are really not here, why am I lying to you. Yu Xiaobao explained innocently: "In the afternoon, the Governor's Mansion sent someone over, saying that the Governor had something to announce about disaster relief, and asked Chief He to enter the city." At this time, it should be at the Governor's Palace. ”

Liu Xin naturally had no way to go to Wang Zunde's mansion to check whether He Xi was there, so he could only give up his plan to continue waiting and go back to the city first. Seeing that the negotiation deadline set by Liu Xiang was approaching one day, and this day was delayed in vain while sitting in the Guangzhou Office, Liu Xin felt that his spirit was about to collapse.

However, Liu Xin didn't know something, when he accidentally fell into a coma in the Guangzhou Office, the Haihan Executive Committee, thousands of miles away, had already decided to take a tough attitude to deal with Liu Xiang's request.

Marik and He Xi naturally did not go out at all, and the excuses they made were only to delay the negotiation process, and when Liu Xin left the Guangzhou Office with a full of grievances, they were checking the latest instructions from the base camp together in the telegram mailroom.

"To transfer troops to the Pearl River Estuary and strengthen the defense of the Pearl River Estuary waterway, the Executive Committee is planning to face it head-on. He Xi took the electricity and said with emotion: "It seems that the Executive Committee does not plan to continue to take a low-key route. ”

"That's hard to say!" Mariko had a different opinion on this: "You can also say in the electric network that you can actively defend, but you are not allowed to take the initiative to attack." It took the Navy half a year to reach such a small scale, and the Executive Committee and the Military Commission were willing to take risks with these treasures. ”

He Xi frowned and said, "Then we will have a showdown with Liu Xiang's people?"

"What's the hurry, I think this matter can be stable for a few more days. "The military will definitely need a few days to prepare for most of the navy's deployment this time, and counting the time it takes for them to arrive at the mouth of the Pearl River from Sanya, I think it will take at least three to seven days." ”

"Can't you drug him in food every day to stun him?" He Xi smiled: "I estimate that at most I will use it again, and he will definitely not even touch a sip of water when he comes to the door in the future." ”

Mariko also smiled: "This kind of thing can't be done again, once is enough." But it's not difficult to hold him back, negotiation and negotiation is to stumble on the opponent while talking, and if you want to slow down the pace of negotiation, it's actually very easy, just pick every word the other party says. I can't do intelligence, you can't play belly black, just leave this matter to me. ”

"Okay, okay, you have the final say in blackmail, I won't rob you. After He Xi finished laughing, he returned the topic to the matter at hand: "After this heavy rain, it is estimated that there are three or four thousand more victims near Guangzhou, and if the operation is good, one or two thousand people can be pulled back to the island." ”

"Maybe it's more than that. Marik is obviously more optimistic about this matter: "Today, there should be more than 2,000 victims who came to the Guangzhou Office for help, but the news from Panyu said that the situation in the south seems to be a little stricter, so many of the victims went to Panyu, which is closer, and did not come to Guangzhou City." ”

"The robbery has to take advantage of now!" He Xi was also driven by Mariko's feelings, and said with a sigh: "This year and next year are considered a critical period for the population explosion, if the population of our ruling area exceeds 100,000 people, basically no one in the southeast region can move us anymore." ”

Marik responded: "Take the Pearl River estuary first, as long as you control the waterway here, the population and wealth will continue to be transported to Sanya." No matter how powerful the 'Eighteen Zhi' is in Fujian, they will come here to be an away away, in fact, there is not much advantage at all, in contrast, we at least have Wanshan Port as a maritime stronghold to use it. ”

Liu Xin had no idea about the Haihan people's plan behind the scenes, but he could also vaguely feel that the Haihan people were consciously delaying time. But even though he was aware of this, he was still powerless to change the pace of the negotiations, and the next few days of negotiations still gave him a splitting headache.

"Mr. Liu, you are asking us to prohibit the sale of weapons and equipment, is this just the direction of Fujian or the whole of Fuguang?" asked Mariko.

"Naturally, it refers to the direction of Fujian. ”

"So, then, it's okay for us to sell weapons to merchants in Canton?" asked Mariko mockingly.

"This ...... Your subordinates are not allowed to resell weapons to Fujian!" Liu Xin didn't know why, and faintly felt that something was wrong.

"How do we deal with the weapons we buy next, and how can we manage them? Do we have to care about how each family cooks the vegetables after they buy the salt we sell?"

"This ...... You're using strong words!" Liu Xin felt that he was a little short of words.

"I'm obviously reasoning with you with facts, but where is the strong rhetoric? Do you think what I'm saying is wrong, you can point it out, let's discuss it. ”

Liu Xin calmed down for a moment, and then argued: "If you can't restrain the behavior of the next family, then please stop selling weapons in the Fuguang area." ”

Marik spread his hands and said: "Does that mean that we are not allowed to engage in the arms trade in the Fuguang area?"

"That's right, that's what it means!" Liu Xin said fiercely. He felt that he should have been as tough as he was a few days earlier, and maybe he had already made the other party give in.

"Then our sale of weapons on Qiongzhou Island will not affect your security?" said Malik with a sneer, "Or do you think that Qiongzhou Island now belongs to your sphere of influence?"

Liu Xin was dumbfounded for a while, not knowing how to fight back against Mariko. Although the "Eighteen Zhi" has unparalleled strength on the southeast coast, it is mainly concentrated in the Fuguang area, but it does not extend its tentacles to such a far place as Qiongzhou Island - after all, if it can even control the Yazhou side, how can it be possible to sit back and watch the Haihan people take root and blossom in the local area, and develop and grow.

Moreover, Liu Xin also knew that the Haihan people were extremely powerful in Yazhou, and even the government was clearly on their side. And the sea area near Yazhou is also completely controlled by the Haihan people. Liu Xin would not dare to talk nonsense about including Qiongzhou Island in his own sphere of influence, otherwise it would just add to the laughing stock.

But if we admit that we can't influence Qiongzhou Island, wouldn't that mean that we have recognized the right of the Haihan people to sell weapons on their own in Qiongzhou? Xu Xinsu can't buy them in Guangzhou, so won't he send a ship to buy them on the territory of the Haihan people, so what's the use of banning them on the mainland?

"No, no, that's not the case. Liu Xin hurriedly sorted out his already confused thoughts, waved his hand and argued: "You are doing business on Qiongzhou Island, we can't control it." Our demand is that you cannot sell weapons to the Fujian Daming officers and soldiers in any form anywhere. ”

"Oh...... I see. Marik said with a look of sudden realization: "Let's just not sell it to them?" "Yes...... Liu Xin suddenly felt that something was wrong as soon as he spoke, but before he could react, he heard Mariko continue: "Then if someone else sells it to them, we won't be able to control it!" This bastard went back to his words! Liu Xin just wanted to beat up the hateful Haihan man in front of him at this moment.