On June 1, 1701, at the North Korea Kingdom Wonsan Port, a merchant ship with the east coast flag slowly sailed into the port under the tow of two small steam steamers.

This is a small transport ship from a Blackwater Transportation Company, which looks about 200 tons. It takes North Korea and Japan to route. In fact, there is no need for too many ships there. The trade volume is only so small. It is not suitable for your entire 1,000-ton large ship, unless you encounter someone buying bulk materials.

Heishui Transportation Company is a small local shipping company in the Far East Five Families. The Heishui County Transportation Bureau holds a certain share, but does not hold a share. The majority of the shares are social funds, most of which are merchants from Heishui local and Denglai. There is no one in the wealthy Ningshao area. It is not that they do not want to participate in the shares, but that it is too late to get the news. Denglai and Heishui merchants tacitly bought the shares of the public offering and completed the fundraising.

The competition between commercial groups in the north and the south has never been a secret. In the past, Blackwater Fisheries Capital controlled the world's largest fishing ground, the Kuril Islands Fisheries, and strictly guarded the Ningshao fishermen who came to fish. Later, Ningshao merchants suppressed Shandong capital, which tried to enter the Shunguo silk tea market, forcing them to import a large amount of money from the Qing people, and then opened a hole a little. Even in the jurisdiction of the Lianwu Management Committee, the weakest, some local wealthy businessmen were trying to form offensive and defensive alliances to compete with the influx of foreign capital and protect their own interests as much as possible.

There is no way, people are selfish, and it is normal to have protectionism in place, which cannot be completely solved in the 21st century. What's more, in addition to the relative military unity of the East Coast Far East, the five vassals of the East Coast are all economically independent economic entities. They have cooperation and competition. You can think of them as a large free trade zone, which is a politically and military highly unified free trade zone. Well, it is a bit like a reinforced version of the EU in later generations, because it has a joint army that the president who married his own teacher wanted to do but failed.

The Ministry of Industry and Commerce and Trade, which are located in the East Coast, once sent special commissioners to investigate the economy of the five Far East Far East, pointing out that they can unite and work together to unite and cooperate with several super-large enterprises, and make money together. It should be said that so far, they have done a good job in this regard. The three companies, Taiwan Bank, East Coast Japanese Company and East Coast North Korean Company, are platforms, and other small businesses and small businessmen, have made a lot of money in the Far East and Southeast Asia circles. This may somewhat bridge a little conflict between all parties and generate a certain amount of economic exchanges. The Hei Water Management Committee once planned to go south to Ningshao to establish a heavy industrial enterprise.

Now the merchant ship of this Blackwater Transportation Company is loading the goods of the North Korean company on the East Coast. They purchased a large number of mechanical equipment and parts, weapons and ammunition, whale products, high-end fur, chemicals, horses and other traditional export commodities in Blackwater. These are very easy to sell in North Korea and can create a large amount of profit every year. Especially now, North Korea's industry is developing greatly, and there is a huge demand for heavy hardware products, which is an important customer that the Blackwater Industry can maintain.

After the ships approached the port, a large group of North Koreans came up. The fastest ones were not the staff at the docks, but the merchants selling all kinds of small commodities and attracting guests to have fun. Although their clothes were not very glamorous, they were not very bad. At least there were a lot of cotton clothes, which showed that after years of development in Yuanshan Port, people's lives have indeed improved greatly.

Yuanshan Port was just a fishing port that was too small before the people on the east coast came. The reason why people on the east coast viewed this place was simply because there was a bay with sufficient water depth. There were more than a dozen islands of large and small blocking the bay entrance, weakening the waves, and there was an extended peninsula on the right side of the harbor as a natural breakwater. After passing these two lines of defense, the wind and waves in the anchorage of the ships dropped to a very good level, which can be said to be a natural port.

After the opening of Yuanshan Port, a large number of East Coast merchants flocked here to build material warehouses, buildings and trading markets, and almost controlled the import and export trade of Yuanshan Port. Later, even after giving in, these agents at all levels under the East Coast North Korean company still seized the largest share of Yuanshan Port's trade.

But no matter who the profit of Yuanshan trade is largely the same as the local economy, it actually doesn't matter much. Those East Coast merchants who made a lot of money mostly live in Yuanshan Port, where their families also live here, and various consumptions (including daily consumption and real estate consumption) are also left locally, which promotes the development of Yuanshan's local economy. According to statistics from the Ministry of Agriculture, Industry and Commerce of North Korea, the population of the entire Yuanshan County (including ports and surrounding rural areas) has exceeded 100,000. After deducting local interception every year, this is a special requirement for the East Coast people. Yuanshan must have enough funds for local construction to be used to distribute various taxes of Hanyang City to as high as 170,000 yuan. It can be said that it is an economic center in northern North Korea.

The monarchs and ministers of Hanyang City were very happy that industry and commerce could bring such huge income. In today's court, the Qingliu conservatives have basically lost their power. The reason why they have not been completely cleared out is actually because the King of Korea is worried that the reformists will dominate and it is difficult to control. But no matter what, North Korea can no longer go back, and they are not willing to go back. The sweetness of a rich country and strong army has been tasted. The Japanese who often bullied them in the Battle of Tsushima Island were thrown away. At this time, whoever stood up and shouted to return to the pastoral life of traditional literati and doctors would be regarded as a fool. You know, even the Japanese are now exploring the path of reform. If you go back to the past, do you want to wait for the Japanese to come?

"Get out! Get out!" A group of officers who maintained order from the dock came over, and used sticks to knock the vendors and brokers aside, and then began to check the various documents and certificates of the ships by the port. They did not dare to check it too carefully, and were worried that the captain of the East Coast would be impatient, so they just looked at it quickly and respectfully returned it, leaving only two people here and the East Coast people to approve the quantity and value of the cargo on the ship in order to calculate the amount of tariffs to be collected.

"Lieutenant Quan, Yuanshan scenery, how about Gaocheng?" After getting off the boat, Shao Rujie, deputy general manager of Taiwan Bank, asked Quan Douyong with a smile.

Shao Rujie did not come to North Korea specifically, but in fact he took a boat to Yantai. The boat only stayed at Yuanshan Port for several days and was bored on the boat, so he didn't come down to get some breath and check the local social situation. Quan Douyong went to his fiefdom Gaocheng County. He had sent a group of children from the three counties (Kancheng, Gaocheng, Xiangyang) to study at the Army Academy of Vladivostok, and by the way he would meet old friends and raise relationships.

To be honest, as the first heir to the three counties of Gancheng, Quan Douyong was very popular during his transfer to the Vladivostok Army Academy. He was proficient in Chinese, was generous, and could do things. Both Han, Meng and Tungus had a good relationship with him. He had accumulated considerable connections. What's more rare is that Quan Douyong's academic performance was also very good, and he ranked first in the grade at graduation, so he was awarded the rank of lieutenant of the East Coast Army, which is a great honor.

The three counties of Gancheng, which were divided into the whole family, originally had many troops and had a heavy financial burden. However, under the persuasion of the East Coast people, the whole family reformed it and has now been reduced to more than 7,000 people in one division. Although the scale is still not small, it is indeed necessary to consider the threats faced by others, it is indeed necessary to retain such a scale.

Quan Douyong is now the deputy commander of this division and the commander of the first regiment. Under his vigorous training, the first regiment has become the main regiment of the division and its first combat power. After careful investigation, the instructors on the East Coast praised the combat power of the first regiment, believing that even if it cannot be ranked first among the nearly 100,000 troops in North Korea, they will definitely enter the top three. For this reason, they solemnly suggested that a batch of weapon assistance will be given to the three counties of Gancheng, and at the cost of this first regiment go to the Manchuria area to fight. Quan Douyong already knew about this, and he was not repelled in his heart. On the contrary, he was still a little eager to try, thinking about the Manchuria Eight Banners Association meeting with those who forced the Korean monarch and ministers to exile in Jianghua Island.

"Mr. Shao, Yuanshan's scenery is already quite good, better than Gaocheng." Quan Douyong said this not because he was humble, but because of the fact. Although the economy of the three counties of Gancheng is pretty good in Jiangyuan Road, it is not enough to look at the whole country. Yuanshan's economic and trade prosperity is that there is no city in the three counties that can match it. This is a pity.

"Haha, Yuanshan is prosperous, but it is a contribution to trade. Once the merchants disperse, they are nothing and their foundation is not stable." Shao Rujie said with a smile: "If the White Tiger Regiment of Lieutenant can play well in Manchuria in the future and makes great contributions, then it is very likely to receive industrial assistance. There is no need for more. As long as one or two industries are established and supporting the large factories in Denglai or Ningshao, the days will be improved immediately, and your whole family can also obtain more funds to build local areas and consolidate their rule."

The White Tiger Regiment is the nickname of the first regiment where Quan Douyong served as the leader. Because the Khalkha Mongol tribes under the control of the Qing Dynasty continued to fight with the people on the eastern coast of the northern desert grassland, the Manchu and Mongolian pioneer team planned to open up a second battlefield in the northern desert area, focusing on advancing to the southern Manchu area, restraining the Qing Dynasty's energy and preventing him from fully supporting his tens of thousands of troops in the northern desert grassland.

Considering that the Manchuria and Mongolian pioneer team had already had considerable troops to be restrained in the northern desert grassland, the Northern Manchuria troops had more defense and insufficient offense, so they had to dispatch troops from the outside. In addition to the half-new military divisions of Denglai and Ningshao, North Korea will also dispatch a large number of troops to come, with a total number not less than 15,000 people, and the White Tiger Regiment, which was fully fighting, was part of it.

In addition, according to unreliable news, the Second Mixed Regiment of the East Coast Army, which is currently training in Wuzhou, may also go north to participate in the war. If this matter can eventually come true, it will be a big surprise for the Qing army entrenched in the Southern Manchuria!
Chapter completed!