From the very beginning of the establishment of foreign trade relations with the Crossing Group, the arms trade has become an extremely important part of the export trade. Compared with other exported industrial products, the export products in this field not only have extremely high gross profit margins, but also the benefits that can be generated are not limited to the economy, but also the political and military influence brought by arms exports is also a characteristic valued by the Executive Committee.

For example, the Li family, which was the first to obtain the right to monopolize arms, established its own powerful private armed forces under the assistance of Haihan. Although the scale of this armed force is very small, and its combat effectiveness is not comparable to the genuine version of the Haihan Militia Regiment, its strength has surpassed that of the official local guard garrison of the Ming Dynasty. Compared with other wealthy businessmen in Guangdong, the Li family is probably the first local force that can really meet the standard of "soil overlord".

Not only do all the personnel have to rely on Haihan instructors for military skills training, but more importantly, the weapons and ammunition they use can only come from Haihan's supply. Once the support of the Haihan is lost, the combat effectiveness of the Li family militia will plummet, and the Haihan side will therefore have many requirements for the political attitude of the Li family, many of which have clear clauses such as "no hostile measures shall be taken with the Haihan under any circumstances".

Although many of the actions of the Haihan people seem to be obviously wary and hostile to the government, compared to the Ming officials and soldiers who were besieged by the rogues in Lijiazhuang but could not be rescued, the Li family is still more willing to choose to trust the Haihan people who once fought side by side. Mixing with the Haihan people, you can not only make a lot of money but also get the protection of the militia army, anyway, the Haihan people are not directly pulling the flag to rebel now, and the Li family is also happy to pretend to be confused, and they can only see the various actions of the Haihan near Guangzhou.

In recent years, the two regions have been hit by natural disasters one after another, and the province has been rampant with bandits, and the government has been powerless to change this vicious circle. With the establishment of "Qiong Lianfa" and the success of the defensive battle of Lijiazhuang, a large number of wealthy businessmen who cooperated with Haihan also began to follow the way of the Li family and set up private armies in their hometowns. Merchants who are eligible to join the "Qiong Lianfa" shareholders' meeting. Naturally, there is no doubt about its financial resources, and spending tens of thousands of taels of silver to buy Haihan weapons and hire Haihan instructors to form a reliable private armed force is a good deal for these wealthy businessmen. Last year, Haihan sold more than 4,000 rifles and more than 40 small-caliber artillery pieces through this channel.

These wealthy businessmen often have inextricable interests with the government behind them. There are even some big families who originally have the background of official and business families, so they are interested in the private armed forces they organized. As long as they don't take the initiative to make trouble, the people in the government will not take trouble to restrain these powerful forces with money and guns. And in this tacit understanding reached by many parties, Haihan quietly created a co-operative army of thousands of people in the territory of Liangguang.

The Executive Committee and the Military Commission did not place too high hopes on the combat effectiveness of this kind of auxiliary army, after all, the vast majority of these people were not professional soldiers, and the planned function when they were formed was mainly defense, but as a civilian armed force, it was enough to provide support for all kinds of non-public or semi-public operations of the Haihan on the mainland. When Haihan assisted in the formation of these local militia groups, he reached an agreement with the bosses that as long as there was a document issued by the armed forces department under the Guangzhou Office, the militia group could be assigned to complete some low-intensity tasks in the local area. For example, escorting goods, protecting VIPs, monitoring specific targets, and so on.

If the militia has to be dispatched every time for this kind of mission, first, the cost of operation is too high, second, the number of armed personnel of the militia stationed on the mainland is limited, and it is often impossible to carry out multiple tasks at the same time, and third, the militia members are far less familiar with the local situation than the locals, and the efficiency of the operation will be correspondingly limited. Therefore, such low-level tasks are often entrusted to the private armed forces of the cooperative merchants, and to a large extent, they also make up for the lack of armed forces in the mainland area. (Baidu search update is the fastest and most stable)

As for the future after the establishment of power by Haihan. Whether or not these civilian armed forces can be gradually incorporated into their own banner requires that the road be slowly paved from now on. The Executive Committee believed that with the means at its disposal, even if it could not completely take these civilian armed forces for its own use at that time, at least the vast majority of them would not adopt a hostile attitude towards the Haihan, and this would greatly reduce the pressure on the Haihan regime to attack the mainland in the future.

The situation in Fujian is different from that of Liangguang, and the main purpose of the Haihan people to assist Xu Xinsu Group. It is not to establish a local armed force that can be used for one's own use in advance, but to use Xu Xinsu's power to slow down the development of the most powerful "Eighteen Zhi" in the southeast coast, so that it will not monopolize the entire maritime trade channel along the coast of Fuguang and even the Jiangsu and Zhejiang regions before Haihan's own maritime power is formed.

This kind of cooperation is more out of strategic considerations that are conducive to Haihan's own development, and the Executive Committee does not want to step on the "Eighteen Zhi" while supporting another behemoth beyond its own control. It is different from the local armed forces in the Liangguang region. Xu Xinsu's troops are genuine Ming officers and soldiers, although most of these people are pirates, and even Xu Xinsu's own official hat is exchanged for silver, but the official status still gives more power to this force, which means that there are more uncontrollable possibilities for Haihan.

The Executive Committee is not a good man and a woman, and naturally it does not believe that Xu Xinsu, an old fox with money and soldiers in his hands, will sincerely cooperate with his own family, so he has always been more cautious about Fujian's military assistance, and has reservations about the scale and grade of arms exports.

For example, although the Type 28 flintlock pistol has begun to be gradually replaced by the latest Type 29 breech-loading flintlock pistol in the militia army, the rifles exported to Fujian are still mainly Type 27 arquebuses, and the Type 28 arquebuses are only sold at a ratio of 30 to 1, that is, for every 30 Type 27 purchases by the Fujian side, they can get an order quota for Type 28, and the price is three times higher than that of Type 27 arquebuses. As for the updated rifle, it is not at all on the external quotation of the "Haihan Military Industry".

Export restrictions on artillery are even more obvious, and the most powerful artillery that Fujian has been able to buy from Haihan so far is the 12-pounder army gun, and it is also a monkey version with castrated performance. As for the large-caliber coastal defense gun that Xu Xinsu had always wanted to buy, it had already been included in the list of prohibited sales by the Executive Committee -- if this thing was erected on the wall of Zhongzuo or the coast of Weitou Bay in the future, the difficulty of the Haihan warships trying to capture the local area would have to increase by several levels.

Even shore defense artillery has been listed as a prohibited item, and the technical content is even higher. Naturally, the more threatening warships will not be sold in batches to the Ming military, which may become opponents in the future. Xu Xinsu can calculate the sky-high price, and the Haihan side will definitely not sell a large number of active warships to it before the next generation of warships are installed - one or two may still be negotiable, after all, the combat effectiveness that can be formed by a small number of ships is also very limited, but there is basically no need to talk about ten or eight ships, and in the current fleet establishment of the Haihan Navy, each fleet has two large, six small, and eight warships. Plus a few supply ships.

Schneider considered the problem from the perspective of a businessman, and naturally felt sorry for letting go of this business with hundreds of thousands of silver in gross profits. But from Yan Chujie's standpoint. Security issues were far more important than the proceeds of the arms deal, and not only that, but he also offered Schneider further ideas.

"Judging from the information we have obtained this year, the war on the Fujian side of Eighteen Zhi is not going well, and its strength has been reduced compared to the first two years, if we continue to open up the supply of weapons to Xu Xinsu's side, there may be a one-sided situation that we do not want to see for the time being. Yan Chujie frowned and analyzed: "If Zheng Zhilong falls too fast, then Xu Xinsu's family is dominant, and it may not be a good thing for us to go north in the future." Therefore, I intend to propose to the Executive Committee that we should reduce and limit the scale of arms exports to Fujian. ”

"Our biggest trade partner in Fujian is Xu Xinsu, and the biggest trade item is arms, and if we want to start this project, the economic benefits we will get from Fujian will be significantly reduced!" Schneider shook his head and said: "I don't know what others think, but I will definitely vote against it." ”

"We can be a little more flexible in terms of policy, for example, we don't need to limit the number of arms that can be exported. But the sale of ammunition can be restricted. Yan Chujie probably expected that there would be opposition, so he proposed a relatively compromise plan: "Without our original ammunition, even if they buy more weapons, the power they can exert is limited." ”

Ruan Jinggui listened quietly to the conversation between the two on the side, although his face was calm, but his heart had already set off waves. Originally, he thought that the forces supported by Hai Han using the arms trade were also the North Vietnamese court. But after listening to this conversation, he realized that the situation of Haihan's business was far greater than he expected. The Haihan people supported a large number of civilian armed forces in the Liangguang region, formed a number of militia groups, and also carried out arms transactions with the Ming official army. Listening to the tone of the two talking, if the local Ming army in Fujian had not been supported by the military assistance of the Haihan, it might have been defeated by the local pirate armed forces long ago.

When Ruan Jinggui was sighing in his heart, he turned back to him and asked, "Mr. Ruan." What are your thoughts on the issues we discussed?"

Ruan Jinggui hurriedly responded: "I am shallow in my humble position, and I dare not speak falsely. ”

"It's okay, just talk about it, if you are here to observe, you don't treat you as an outsider, you don't have any psychological burden, just talk about your opinion. Schneider persuaded with a harmless smile on his face.

Schneider didn't know whether he said this intentionally or unintentionally, but Ruan Jinggui was moved by this sentence "I didn't treat you as an outsider", after all, he is a new immigrant who has not yet obtained naturalized citizenship, and he is not even a second-class citizen in Sanya in terms of status, and he is actually fortunate to participate in the private meeting of the two executive committee members of the Haihan Executive Committee, which is a great honor.

Of course, Ruan Jinggui didn't know that Schneider dared to take him with him to attend meetings with other executive committee members, and he didn't really trust him as a person, but in fact, this was also part of the employment inspection. If Ruan Jinggui is not strict and dares to spread this news to the outside world, he will naturally report it to the relevant departments through some secret channels, and it is very likely that he will be sent to a hard labor camp in a daze before he becomes a regular worker. If he could understand the importance of secrecy without being reminded by his superiors, there was hope that he would be able to reuse it in the new environment.

Ruan Jinggui saw that Yan Chujie had no intention of objecting, so he considered it and said: "Then I dare to say a few words, I hope the two leaders will not be strange." Although he is not aware of the situation in Fujian, he has just heard the two chiefs talking, and it seems to be somewhat similar to Annan's earlier form, but the two sides of the confrontation have been replaced by the Ming official army and a certain powerful pirate, I wonder if this is the case?"

"It's not a very good analogy, but it's not much worse if you understand it that way, you go on. Yan Chujie nodded and gave Ruan Jinggui encouragement.

Ruan Jinggui relaxed slightly. continued: "Mr. Shi wants to sell arms to the Ming military in exchange for benefits, but Mr. Yan is worried that it will make it difficult to control it in the future. ”

"You don't know this, the leader of this pirate is notoriously double-stabbed. Turning your face is faster than turning a book, and your personal credit is very poor. We can't trust this man, and we can't work with him. Yan Chujie shook his head and denied Ruan Jinggui's construction: "In comparison, the reliability of the Ming military is a little higher. ”

Ruan Jinggui was not discouraged after being dismissed, he thought about it and asked: "The two of you talked about the pirate nest in Taiwan, but I don't know where this bay is?"

"Taiwan is not a bay, Taiwan is what the Ming Dynasty calls Dayuan Island. Yan Chujie patiently explained to him.

"I see, I also know that this place is across the sea from Fujian. Then why not join forces with the Ming military to directly exterminate this pirate, and then let our side occupy its old nest? Since this pirate can attack the coastal area of Fujian from time to time. Presumably, the distance at sea is not far away, and after occupying the local area, it must be possible to balance the Ming officials and troops of Fujian from a close distance. Ruan Jinggui racked his brains and came up with another plan. He didn't know much about the specific situation along the coast of Fujian, and he was able to think of this step as he did his best.

Schneider nodded approvingly: "I heard that you have never been to Fujian, and you can get so much information from our conversation, and you can still come up with a way to deal with it, you can be regarded as a caring person!"

Ruan Jinggui was praised by Schneider. was also secretly complacent, and hurriedly said modestly: "A little shallow view of the humble position made Mr. Shi smile." ”

"You said that this method is a good way, in fact, we have always wanted to do this......" Yan Chujie took over and said: "But the problem is that our strength is not enough, and we can't cross the sea to fight the pirates over there, even if we win one or two battles, it doesn't mean much." ”

"The Haihan army crossed the sea several times to attack Annam. Mr. Yan's words are too modest!" Ruan Jinggui hurriedly lost no time in sending a top hat.

Yan Chujie glanced at him and said, "Do you know how far Zhangzhou and Dayuan are from Sanya?"

Ruan Jinggui hurriedly responded: "I don't know the humble position, please ask Mr. Yan for advice." ”

"You've traveled back and forth from Hue to Sanya several times, so you should be familiar with this journey. Yan Chujie explained to him: "It is not very far from here to the warring area in Fujian, probably nearly three round-trip voyages from here to Hue!"

Ruan Jinggui almost choked on his own saliva, he was not familiar with the geographical situation of the southeast coast of the Ming Dynasty, and thought that the place where these two were talking was not too far from Sanya, and he knew that this was the case. I really shouldn't be talking nonsense in front of these two high-ranking Haihan officials.

After the fall of the South Vietnamese regime, Nguyen Ching Gui slowly learned why the frequency of attacks on South Vietnam by the Hai Han militia remained for about half a year, and the fundamental reason was that the preparations required for cross-sea operations were too complicated, and it took a long time to prepare before launching a wave of offensives. The voyage from Sanya to the coast of Nanyue is only about three days, and it is still so troublesome, and the Fujian battlefield is five or six times longer than the voyage from Sanya, and the journey will take about half a month.

The Haihan people in Annam all adopted the strategy of retreating after the battle, and in such a distant place, with the existing strength and strength of the Haihan, even if they could defeat their opponents, it would be difficult to maintain long-term actual control in the local area. This kind of practice of paying big and making low returns is certainly unwilling to be implemented by the shrewd Haihan Executive Committee.

However, what surprised Ruan Jinggui even more was still to come, and when he was regretting that he shouldn't have talked nonsense casually, he heard Yan Chujie continue: "...... Besides, if we really want to fight, we may not be able to beat those pirates!"

Ruan Jinggui quickly replied for a while: "With the combat power of the Haihan Naval Division, what are the pirates afraid of?"

Schneider shook his head and said: "These people are not just pirates, they beat the Ming garrison in Fujian like dogs a few years ago, if we hadn't sold a lot of weapons in the past, the coast of Fujian would have belonged to them a long time ago." ”

"Is there a pirate so powerful?" Yan Chujie's statement sounded like a joke, but Ruan Jinggui was a little skeptical when he saw that Schneider also said the same.

"It's not particularly powerful......," Yan Chujie responded, "They only have thousands of warships and twenty or thirty thousand fighters under their command." ”