Although Zheng Zheng's abacus is playing well, his plans are still difficult to realize in the near future. Although the export of arms is one of the main trade items of the crossing group, out of strategic considerations, the varieties and quantities of weapons exported have been strictly controlled by the Executive Committee, and the main weapons in service will definitely not be sold in batches, not to mention the warships, the newly established navy is still waiting for ships, how can it be sold to outsiders.

The Executive Committee spent manpower and material resources to invite the North Vietnamese mission, not only for the purpose of arms business, but also for the in-depth military cooperation plan between the two sides, as well as a large number of civilian commodity import and export business to discuss. In addition, the Executive Committee also hoped that the North Vietnamese mission would be able to "fully appreciate the superiority of the Haihan system" during this visit. To this end, the relevant departments have also prepared a series of tours for the mission, including shipyards, barracks, shooting ranges, port batteries and other military-related areas.

During the plenary meeting the day before, the Executive Committee had arranged for them to visit the port battery, which had just been completed. Although the equipment and personnel on the batteries were not yet fully equipped, the mighty 24-pounder shore defense guns still caused a great shock to the North Vietnamese mission. Zheng Zheng is not an ordinary gentleman, but has personally been on the battlefield, and has a certain depth of understanding of weapons and warfare, what he saw from the port fort is not only the gap between the two sides in weapons and equipment, the Haihan people can build such a scale of coastal defense artillery fortifications in one year, and the gap between the two sides in engineering construction also makes him nervous.

Thang Long has always been opposed to the Haehan's request for the autonomy of the port of Heitu, and although it was forced to accede to the demands of the Haehan, there were still many people who believed that the port could be taken back by force if necessary. However, after seeing the fortifications of Shengli Port with his own eyes, Zheng Zheng thought that the ideas of some high-ranking officials in Annam were really unrealistic, and the Haihan people built a port exactly like building a fortress, and the opening time of Heitu Port was only a few months later than Shengli Port, and it was presumably that similar fortifications would be built soon. If possible, Zheng Zheng hoped that the defense line around the Hengshan River would also be built to this standard, so as to completely lock the South Vietnamese army south of the Zhengjiang River.

Zheng Zheng's next request to import high-grade weapons was rejected by Bai Kesi without suspense, citing "insufficient production capacity" as always, but the existing Type 27 musket artillery could continue to be supplied to North Vietnam. As for the sale of the ship, Bai Kesi did not refuse, but his reply was not much different from refusal: "The order for the warship built by our side has been scheduled for next year, and if the shipyard can set aside a slipway next year, it can be discussed again at that time." ”

Although Zheng Zheng also understood that Bai Kesi was rejecting himself in disguise, he still asked unwillingly: "Can you build a shipyard in our Annan? We can provide the labor and materials needed for shipbuilding, and you only need to send a small number of shipbuilders...... Good to say in terms of cost!"

Bai Kesi and Tao Donglai glanced at each other, this method is not impossible. The report on the construction of the shipyard by the Heitu Port Management Committee was submitted to the Executive Committee half a year ago, but because the production tasks of the shipyard in the base camp have been very heavy, it is impossible to allocate manpower to assist the Heitu Port, so although the local shipyard has set up a shelf, the progress is still very slow, and it is said that some shipwrights have been collected from the Lianzhou Prefecture and slowly began to build some sailboats with a displacement of around 50 tons. If the local shipbuilding industry can be developed with the help of North Vietnamese manpower, it is also a shortcut worth trying.

With the increasing scale of trade with North Vietnam and Daming, the pressure on the existing fleet transportation is also increasing, although the relevant departments are still collecting large ships from the mainland through various channels, but the executive committee's mind will not form the concept of "it is better to buy than to buy, and it is better to rent than to buy".

Regardless of the size of the initial labor shortage, the shipyard has always been well staffed, and there has never been a temporary shutdown due to lack of labor. Moreover, among the many production units, only the shipyard can continue to receive a huge amount of investment from the executive committee without the slightest profit, and even the product off the assembly line has to be celebrated with great fanfare. You must know that the weapons and glass products that make the most profit for the crossing group have never had any celebration ceremony. 、

This year, the shipyard has further expansion plans, preparing to expand the production area from within the Shengli Harbor to the adjacent bay to the west, and build a new slipway in the bay between the Yulin Peninsula and the Luhuitou Peninsula. At that time, this coastal area in the northern part of the Yulin Peninsula connected to the mainland will become a concentrated area of the local shipbuilding industry, and the executive committee has approved the investment budget of the shipyard and is ready to expand the shipyard's manpower from the current five or six hundred to 2,000 within this year.

Compared with other profitable industries, the shipyard is currently the largest gold-eating beast in the production units under the Crossing Group, and the Executive Committee will certainly not be able to invest money and manpower in it endlessly, and ultimately have to rely on its production capacity to achieve its self-hematopoietic function. At present, the production tasks of shipyards are almost fully occupied by the military, and there is no profit to be made for the military's shipbuilding, and the expenses are directly settled internally, and it is certainly unrealistic to expect to make money with military orders. The Executive Committee has long recognized this and hopes that the shipyard will be able to start building civilian vessels as soon as possible by expanding its production capacity.

In the external market, in fact, the Executive Committee also aimed at Annan early. Compared with the shipping industry in the Ming Dynasty, Annan, which has been completely destroyed by years of war, has a larger blank market in shipping, which is simply a great gift prepared for the crossing group.

Of course, the Executive Committee would not have made the fool of allowing the North Vietnamese to build their own large warships, especially the improved ones that were used by their own navy to combine the advantages of Western sailing ships. But if you want to build some sailing ships with a displacement of less than 200 tons, modeled on the Chinese-style Fuchuan Guangchuan, it will not be a big problem. After all, if the North Vietnamese military wants to deploy artillery on its warships in the future, it will eventually have to ask for its own door, so there is no need to worry too much about the future warships of the North Vietnamese being better than the main ones in terms of combat power, and perhaps in the future maritime operations in the waters of the Indochina Peninsula, the North Vietnamese side can also make some appropriate cooperation, even if it is only to act as a troop carrier and logistics supply ship, it can also reduce a lot of burden on its own navy.

Although the executive committee has not yet made a final decision on this, now that Zheng Zheng has taken the initiative to mention this matter, the Haihan side can come and push the boat down.

Bai Kesi said with difficulty: "It is not impossible to build a shipyard in Annan, but the location is a little troublesome......

In addition to the proper coastal topography, the construction of a shipyard also needs to be close to the source of marine timber to reduce the material resources consumed in the transportation process. However, the Red River Delta, where North Vietnam is most populated, is hardly forested because of its dense water system and large tidal flats, making it unsuitable for large shipyards. The coastal areas to the south are dominated by plain terrain and lack of forest resources, and it is not until Hengshan that there are large areas of mountain forests near the sea. But building a shipyard so close to the war zone would not have been able to keep the North Vietnamese at ease.

Zheng Zheng couldn't completely deny what Bai Kesi said, just when he hesitated whether to give up this plan, Bai Kesi said again: "But it's not that there is no compromise, north of the Tushan Peninsula, near our black soil port, there are large areas of mountains and forests that can be used to build ships, and I personally think that the local geographical environment can be used to build shipyards." ”

Zheng Zheng was not stupid, and immediately understood the meaning of such a big circle as Bai Kesidou, and the Haihan people said that they hoped that the shipyard would be within their control!

Although he was a little angry, Zheng Zheng also knew that this matter still had to be the overall situation after all, and it was better to build the shipyard in a place controlled by the Haihan people than not to be able to build a single ship now. At that moment, Zheng Zheng held back his anger and said: "The location of the shipyard, then please worry about you!"

"It's easy to say, it's easy to say. Bai Kesi seemed to have expected Zheng Zheng's reply, and immediately responded with a smile: "At that time, the two of us will each contribute half of the capital, and this shipyard is considered a joint stock business, how about the little prince?"

Zheng Zheng couldn't figure out the true intention of Bai Kesi's idea, and couldn't help but hesitate: "If half of each is paid, then how to calculate the cost of building a ship for our side?"

"The cost is good, since it is a ship for its own use, it is good to calculate the cost according to the construction cost. When Bai Kesi proposed this joint stock plan, he had already prepared: "The cost is subject to the shipbuilding cost of Daming Shipyard, so as to avoid further disputes." ”

Zheng Zheng thought about it, this construction is more reasonable. I sent people all the way to Daming to buy a boat, not to mention the long cycle of taking the ship, once the identity is exposed, it is easy to have an accident. This shipyard is placed on the territory of the Haihan people, but there is no need to worry about extraneous branches, and the price will not suffer, compared to buying a ship in Daming.

So the two sides soon joined forces to build a shipyard near the port of Heitu, and reached an agreement, and the two companies each contributed 10,000 taels of silver. Among them, the North Vietnamese side offset part of the principal by providing labor and land and forests at a discount, and actually contributed 5,000 taels. The Haihan side also paid 5,000 taels for shipbuilding mechanics and various shipbuilding equipment, and the actual amount of capital contribution was the same as that of North Vietnam. The North Vietnamese side can send several supervisors to the shipyard to supervise the normal operation of the shipyard. As the actual operator of the shipyard, Haihan promised to provide North Vietnam with no less than eight sailing ships of 200 materials every year.

After coming out of the office after the talks, Zheng Zheng still couldn't believe that the Haihan people were so happy this time, and agreed to this cooperation plan without putting forward other additional conditions.

Bai Kesi and Tao Donglai couldn't help but high-five each other, this deal was negotiated, and it was basically a shipyard for Heitu Port to come out. Although Zheng Zheng was quite shrewd, due to the sluggish shipbuilding industry in Annan, he knew almost nothing about this business. If the cost of personnel is removed, in fact, 5,000 taels is more than enough to build a medium-sized shipyard. And the port of black soil already has a shipyard shelf, and on this basis, it will cost less money to expand and improve it.

As for calculating the cost according to the shipbuilding market of the Ming Dynasty, in fact, there is still a lot of profit margin in the middle. Although Bai Kesi is the director of the industrial department, he also has a lot of cooperation with shipyards, and the steel hollow mast used in the new sailboat is a black technology product of the Ministry of Industry. As for the cost of ships, Bai Kesi still knows a little, if the Shengli Port shipyard builds its own merchant ships, the cost can even be controlled to a lower than the purchase of second-hand ships, of course, due to the military demand is too large, the shipyard can not spare the slipway to build merchant ships for a while.

After the shipyard in Heitu Port is put into operation, it will be able to build merchant ships at full capacity. Compared with warships with relatively high technical requirements, it is much less difficult to build merchant ships, even civilian ships of 400 materials or even a little larger can be handed over to the Heitu Port Shipyard for construction. As for the eight ships to be delivered to the North Vietnamese every year, this is not too difficult, but it is only a sailing ship the size of a sea boat, and if four slipways can be built at the same time, it will not take half a year to complete the delivery. Moreover, the profit from building such eight ships is almost enough for the basic expenses of the local shipyard for another half of the operation.

The next day, Zheng Zheng planned to talk about other trade cooperation, but he found that the Haihan people had rarely failed the appointment, because there was another fleet visiting Shengli Port today, and the weight of this visiting group was no less than that of Zheng Zheng, the little prince of North Vietnam. The leaders of the executive committee have arrived at the port to greet the wealthy businessman team from Daming, and the inspection team composed of 12 shareholders of "Qiong Lianfa" will arrive at Shengli Port today.

Due to the rush of departure, the Executive Committee demanded that they arrive at Victory Port by April 4 in order to be able to catch up with the celebrations of that day, so the fleet hurried for several days and finally arrived at its destination early on the morning of the 3rd.

He Xi, who accompanied the delegation to the south, returned to Shengli Port for the first time after taking up the post of Guangzhou Office last year. During this period, the work of the Guangzhou Office will be jointly undertaken by Maliko, who has just taken over, and Ma Yu, the eldest sister.

In addition to the large businesses near Guangzhou, these twelve shareholders also have businesses from other parts of the province, such as "Haifeng" from Huizhou, "Chenghaixing" from Chaozhou, and Xu Xinsu Group's subordinate firm in Fujian, which also quietly participated in the shares. Most of these shareholding merchants have established a relatively stable trade relationship with the crossing group, and there are not a few who have sent ships to Shengli Port, and there are even some big shopkeepers of individual trading houses who have already come to Shengli Port in person.

"Everyone, look at it, I'm right, right? Is this port of the Haihan people bigger than the Pearl River Wharf and the Yuegang in Fujian? And the fort outside this port, you have all seen it? Even if those Westerner gunboats come, they will definitely not be able to please them!"

Before he set foot on the shore, he shouted loudly that this was Zhan Gui, a Guangzhou maritime merchant who had been to Shengli Port many times. This Zhan Gui has had a relatively close cooperation with Haihan since last year, and has also built bridges for exchanges between Haihan and the Zhancheng State. At present, Zhan Gui is also one of the distributors of the Crossing Group, mainly responsible for transporting salt and other commodities to the southern Champa Kingdom. After hearing the news of the IPO of "Qiong Lianfa", this wealthy businessman who had already tasted the sweetness immediately went to the Guangzhou Office with the silver to register, and it was also the second company to sign up for shares after "Fu Ruifeng", and his attitude can be described as quite positive.

"Boss Zhan, I've heard your loud voice from afar! Your spirit is still so good!" Ren Liang, who had dealt with Zhan Gui many times, quickly stepped forward to greet him.

"Brother Ren, I'm bothering you again!" Zhan Gui also arched his hand with a smile, approached Ren Liang and asked in a low voice: "I don't know what happened to the old brother last time......

"Boss Zhan, don't worry, the formalities have been completed, and I will ask you to take you to see the place when you go back. Ren Liang replied with a smile.

Because Zhan Gui has been running at sea for a long time, he has no fixed residence, so he also has several women outside. In recent months, he has come to Shengli Port a lot, and the frequency seems to be gradually increasing, so Zhan Gui also moved his mind and planned to move a house to Shengli Port to settle down. With his financial resources, it is not difficult to buy a place to live in Yazhou, but after comparing the environment of the two places, Zhan Gui still decided to settle down on the side of Shengli Port.

According to the original regulations of the Executive Committee, the investment and purchase of property by foreign merchants in the local area is generally limited to commercial establishments, and there are no foreign investors who intend to settle in Shengli Port in the first few months. After Zhan Gui found Ren Liang, who was familiar with him, to raise the matter, Ren Liang couldn't make up his mind, so he could only reflect the situation upwards, and finally the executive committee also discussed it for this purpose.

For the management of immigrants, initially only the "Labour Management System" could be referred to. After the opening of the Shengli Port Business District, the Port Management Committee also formulated a temporary document of the "Measures for the Management of Migrant Population" as a basis for management, but in fact, when there is real trouble, most of the time it is still handled by the Inspection Department, after all, the authority of local security is not very effective for foreign non-naturalized citizens.

But these methods do not seem to work in Zhan Gui's case, after all, he plans to move here to settle his family, not to hire ordinary laborers from work. The Executive Committee did not simply treat this matter as a case, because with the gradual development of the local area, there will be more and more cases like Zhan Gui's, and it is time to introduce a management method specifically for the migrant population