In terms of the overall colonial strategic intentions, although the overall strength of the Portuguese has begun to decline, their achievements in Asia are still outstanding compared with the European countries of this era. From Goa to Manraka, to Hoi An and Ao, the Portuguese linked the colonies by sea, outlining an ocean-going route across the Indian Ocean and the South China Sea. It was on this route that the Portuguese were able to make huge profits in the trade between the East and the West.

Although more than 100 years have passed since the arrival of the Portuguese in Goa on the west coast of India, and from the perspective of future generations, the speed at which they expanded their shipping routes is really not fast, it is not easy to explore such a route in the unknown world with the current level of navigation.

The advantage of the Crossing Group is that they have accumulated hundreds of years of knowledge, allowing them to easily select the most suitable strategic points or resource production areas from the map to establish colonization points, and use this as the goal to formulate corresponding colonization construction plans, without having to 'mess around' around the sea like the Portuguese. Moreover, because the traversal group is very clear about the direction of history, in the process of contact with external forces, they have a clear purpose and a clear attitude, and they have hardly stepped out of the waste chess, and basically make use of the historical trend that can be used, which also greatly reduces the resistance from the outside in the process of expansion, and is far ahead of other colonial competitors of the same era in terms of efficiency.

While the Council of Australia was still arguing over whether to temporarily give up its rights and interests in South Vietnam in exchange for the opportunity to cooperate with Haihan, their opponents had already set a plan more than a year ago to gradually eliminate the influence of Western countries in Indochina. Whether it is selling weapons to North Vietnam in the early stage to provide military assistance, or sending troops to fight against South Vietnam twice this year, this is just a step in the long-term strategic plan. In other words, the main reason why South Vietnam was hostile to the Crossing Group was actually the intervention of the Portuguese, and if it were not for the expulsion of them, the Crossing Group would not have been in a hurry to roll up its sleeves and go on its own.

Although the Portuguese have now agreed not to intervene in the Annam civil war in exchange for conditions, this does not mean that Haihan will stop exerting military pressure on South Vietnam. The Crossing Group now not only supported the imperial court in the north, but also began to secretly sell arms to the Champa state in the south, which had been suppressed by Annam for decades, in an attempt to prop up another force in the southern part of the Indochina Peninsula that could pose a military threat to South Vietnam.

The hands and feet of the Haihan people under the 'private' background were not noticed by the Portuguese envoy Enrique. Now he only noticed that in the period of more than a month between his two visits to Shengli Port, the population under the rule of Haihan had increased by more than 3,000 people, more than 2,000 acres of farmland had been newly cultivated, more than 300 houses of various grades had been built, and two warships and four merchant ships had recently been launched. Of course, he did not collect these numbers of information on his own, and if he had this ability, I am afraid that he would have been arrested by the relevant departments on charges of espionage, and in fact it was the Executive Committee that provided him with these figures, and all the information came from official statistics.

The purpose of the Executive Committee is also clear, that is, to make the Portuguese clearly aware that it is unrealistic for them to compete with Haihan in the South China Sea, and it is unlikely that they will have the opportunity to surpass Haihan in terms of regional influence in the future. If the two sides are to cooperate in a deep and multifaceted way in the future, then the Portuguese must face up to the reality, abandon all hostility, and calmly focus on commerce and trade, and stop thinking about what kind of colonies and other 'tricks' within the Haihan sphere of influence.

Although the Executive Committee was "generous" in announcing a series of figures to Enrique, he was not exposed to certain specific manufacturing links at all. For example, the relevant units of shipbuilding and military industry have never been open to Enrique, although he has also applied for a visit in his own name, but the person in charge of foreign affairs has rejected it for "safety" reasons.

Enrique was naturally not satisfied with this kind of unilateral information receiving, he came to Sanya on the one hand to negotiate with the Haihan people on trade cooperation and military conflicts, and on the other hand, of course, it was also for the purpose of collecting information about the Haihan and judging the next move of the Haihan. Although the Haihan people seemed to have generously published a series of civil affairs numbers, these things were not of great importance to Enrique. He also wanted to know how many muskets and artillery the Haihan people's military factories could produce every month, how many unknown secrets were hidden in the shipyards that could build new warships, and how big the Haihan militia under the command of the Executive Committee was.

Unfortunately, this information could never be voluntarily spoken from the mouth of Haihan, and all Enrique could do was to try to collect some bits and pieces of information from the people he came into contact with on a daily basis, and then pick and piece together valuable parts from them. The information that can be gathered through this channel is extremely limited, and most of it is worthless, because almost all of the traversals and naturalized people that Enrique has access to in normal times do not work in the 'gates' of the vital departments, and most of them have no way of knowing the information that Enrique wants to inquire about.

Enrique, however, was not particularly anxious about this, for he could clearly sense that the Executive Committee did not seem to be hostile to the Portuguese, but rather interested in buying goods that could not be produced locally, such as Indian canvas, through Portuguese merchants, and trying to sell some of the locally produced industrial goods to Europe. It is actually a very pleasant thing to negotiate with the Haihan people here and enjoy the unique tropical seaside life of Sanya, at least much more comfortable than staying in the stinky small port of Macao.

With the exception of some forbidden military exclusions, Enrique's movements in Sanya are not particularly strictly controlled, so he can enjoy authentic Cantonese cuisine in the Chinese restaurants in the business district. Compared to the free meals provided at the Haihan State Guest House, the restaurant obviously has more choices, and although it will cost some extra money, this is not a problem for Mr. Special Envoy - the Council has approved a special fund for his activities before this visit, which is enough to meet his daily needs during his time in Victory Harbor.

After a quiet day, Enrique took his servant Koko to his favorite "Ruifeng Building" for dinner. This "Ruifeng Building" is one of the industries under the "Fu Ruifeng", and it is also the first batch of commercial institutions opened in the Shengli Port area, the front is the main restaurant of the restaurant, and the backyard is a Fengyue place dedicated to the pastime of local magnates, which is one of the few places in the local area that can provide one-stop service for eating, drinking and playing.

Enrique didn't come to the backyard Fengyue place, although he really wanted to try the supposedly quite high-level Haihan model service, but unfortunately this field is not open to foreigners, and even naturalized citizens are not qualified for this, only real Haihan people will be allowed to enter, and they have to register for an appointment a day or two in advance, and Enrique is also amazed by the strictness of the control. He has traveled from Europe to Asia across several continents, and has been to many Fengyue venues, but he has never heard of a venue with such rules as here. If Enrique really wants to find a place to meet his physical needs, he can only go to the limited places between the business district and the naturalized residential area to buy services from the 'private' prostitutes who have received a special business license.

With the explosive growth of the local population, the scale of the institutions provided by the original institutions is far from meeting the needs of the majority of bachelors, and the relevant departments have to relax the conditions and restrictions set at the beginning, gradually shift the management rights of special places from joint ventures to private enterprises, and regulate the market as much as possible through the means of restricting business premises and practice qualifications. Of course, there are also some other "discerning" foreign businessmen who have noticed this industry and asked the relevant departments to enter this industry. Now there is not much opposition to the special industry, after all, the local situation of more men and less 'women' will not be effectively improved for the time being, in order to maintain social stability, some industries that should be liberalized still have to be allowed to exist reasonably.

However, the joint venture agreement reached between the Executive Committee and "Fu Ruifeng" contained a clause of regional exclusivity, so the business premises of new entrants could only be opened to the Sanya New Town, and in addition to some retail investors in Shengli Port, there was still only one formal operation of Fengyue "Ruifeng Building". Just the selling point of "designated consumption place" is enough to make "Ruifeng Building" become the premier high-end place in the local area, and keep the state of full of guests every day. And foreign merchants want to feast through the crowd, and they basically regard this place as the first choice to show their knowledge.

Although he couldn't enjoy the backyard service, Enrique also liked the taste and environment after eating at the "Ruifeng Building" once, and even when there were no social activities scheduled, he would come here to eat on his own.

Maybe Enrique's appearance is too eye-catching and easy to recognize, and the second child here has already remembered his name, and greeted enthusiastically at the entrance of the 'door': "Boss En, please!"

The first floor is a place for the general public to eat, most of them are foreign merchants who come to Shengli Port to do business, and occasionally there are some local naturalized people. The second floor is a little higher, and there is a screen between each table, and the people who consume on this floor are generally rich bosses or naturalized cadres. The third floor is full of private rooms, with high consumption and only reception of upper-class people. Enrique went to the second floor and chose an empty table facing the street, and after Xiao Er poured hot tea, he took the initiative to recommend to him: "There is a new dish today, do you want to try it, Boss En? There are prawns just delivered from the port, all of them are jumping around!"

"Then let's have a boiled shrimp first!" Enrique began to order with ease: "Then there is a white-cut 'chicken', fried tofu with 'meat', and fried eggplant...... Another old fire soup, a pot of plum wine, okay!"

"This is life!" Thinking of the stinky fish and rotten shrimp in the restaurant of Aomen, Enrique deeply felt that he was extremely lucky to be able to get the errand of Victory Port, and he should ponder whether he should take over the errand of the person in charge of the local trading station, so that he could stay in Sanya in the future, instead of returning to the dirty and messy environment of Aomen.

Soon the ordered dishes were delivered, and Enrique 'touched' the two dimes of the circulation voucher, sent the servant outside to forage for his own food, and then began to peel the shrimp leisurely.

After a while, however, Enrique's mind was no longer on the food in front of him, as he heard something from the other side of the screen that interested him very much.

I heard a man ask, "Lao Huang, it seems that your workshop hasn't rested recently?"

The man who was called Lao Huang was also a man, and immediately responded: "No way, the chief said that he would work overtime to catch up, and all the holidays this month have been canceled." I don't know where to sell so many cannons......"

As soon as Enrique heard the word "cannon", he immediately pricked up his ears. The artillery of the Haihan people had already shown its power in two military campaigns against South Vietnam, and it was also sold in large quantities to the North Vietnamese court. As to where the Haihan people got the technology to manufacture artillery, the council of the Australian 'Gate' has always wanted to 'figure out'. However, after Enrique came to Victory Port, he gradually realized that the artillery-making technology in the hands of the Haihan people probably did not come from the outside world, because the speed and scale of their artillery manufacturing far exceeded that of the Guangdong government, and they were already far ahead of the Ming Dynasty in the casting technology of large artillery, and it may even be above Western countries including Portugal.

The 24-pounder guns erected on the fortifications of Shengli Port are by no means weapons that can be made in the current Daming Artillery Field, and the fact that the Haihan people can equip so many large guns in one go has fully proved that their manufacturing technology is quite advanced. You must know that in terms of the artillery-making technology of the current era, the larger the caliber of the cast, the lower the probability of qualified products, and the materials discarded from the casting cannons cannot be used for secondary recasting because of the insufficient structural strength, and can only be used as agricultural tools. Enrique believes that although the Haihan people are still martial, they may not be able to afford the economic losses caused by the high scrap rate when casting large artillery, since they can cast so many large-caliber artillery, it must have mastered some technical secrets to improve the success rate.

Almost all of the artillery used by the Portuguese in Asia, including the artillery they sold to the Ming and Annam, was produced in Europe. Although the Portuguese in Asia were not unskilled in cannon casting, the large smelting equipment and large quantities of raw materials required to cast cannons were difficult to achieve in their colonies. As a subject of the empire that relied on navigation and cannons to expand outward, Enrique knew very well that only after building cannons on a certain scale could the manufacturing cost be effectively reduced, and if the Haihan people really began to cast artillery on a large scale, in addition to going to war, I am afraid that the most likely thing is to try to reduce costs in order to win higher profits in the arms trade.

Lao Huang continued: "Xiaobai, your unit is selling weapons to the outside, but it is telling my brother that the news is blowing, where are these extra artillery guns going to be sold?"

Xiao Bai responded: "Lao Huang, the little brother is just an errand runner, what the leaders plan, the little brother doesn't dare to speculate." ”

Enrique already understood the identities of the two when he heard this, and the tone of these two people should be naturalized cadres, that Lao Huang must be the technician in charge of casting cannons, and the other named Xiaobai is a staff member of the "Haihan Military Industry". And the topic they are talking about now is one of the intelligence information that Enrique is trying to get to know by all means.

There was silence on the other side of the screen for a while, and then I heard the little white say again: "Lao Huang, there are some things that have been said here, don't go out and spread them." ”

Lao Huang said: "You said that brother, am I the kind of person who doesn't have a tight mouth?"

Enrique said secretly in his heart, you don't know if your mouth is tight, but the friend next to you is obviously not tight.

Xiao Bai continued: "Little brother heard that these cannons are intended to be sold to the west, to those countries of Western people. ”

Lao Huang didn't seem to agree with this statement: "Aren't you talking about my brother? Those Westerners themselves can make cannons, but my brother has heard that they sell cannons to the Guangzhou government, so how can they 'spend' money to buy cannons from us?"

"You're an old Huang Li!" Xiao Bai is obviously very confident in his sources: "The chief once said that the Western artillery, whether it is 'firing' range, 'precision' accuracy, service life, or loading speed, is inferior to our Haihan artillery, and the South Vietnamese army on the battlefield of Annam is about to collapse at the touch of a button, which is also due to their firepower being far inferior to the artillery of our militia regiment." Nowadays, whether it is the protector of Annan or the sailors of Fujian, they all buy artillery from us, and the artillery of the Westerners cannot be sold at all. Enrique snorted in his heart, that can't be sold, but now there is nothing to sell. The artillery and muskets sold by the Portuguese in Asia were basically purchased in Europe and transported across the ocean, first, the quantity was limited, and the price was high after adding the cost, and there was almost no competitive advantage in the face of Haihan weapons produced in Sanya. Moreover, with the gradual 'intensification' of the Thirty Years' War in Europe, the weapons and equipment of origin have been somewhat unable to keep up with the needs of the war, let alone export to the far East. In fact, one of the unspeakable reasons for the Australian Council's agreement to stop military aid to the South Vietnamese court is that the supply of arms from Europe has been interrupted, and unless the artillery on its own forts and armed merchant ships is dismantled to fill the holes, it will not be possible to supply it with large quantities of muskets and artillery weapons for a period of time in the future. As a qualified maritime merchant, Enrique did not have the idea of purchasing weapons from Haihan and then selling them exclusively to Europe, and he believed that with the order size that the Portuguese Chamber of Commerce could propose, he would definitely be able to get a lower purchase price than other customers, and this price would be enough to ensure that these weapons would still have a relatively large profit after they arrived in Europe. But Enrique didn't quite understand why the Haihan people, who had not had much contact with the West, would also have such an idea.