1627 Rise of the South China Sea

Chapter 121 Overseas Investigation ([-])

During the two days when the temporary miners were fighting in the wild, the few people who stayed at the coastal camp were not idle. They had to sort out a route from Fushuizhou Island to this port area based on the sailing diaries and charts.In addition, a military-grade map of the port area needs to be produced. On the one hand, it is used by the military and police department to study the defense deployment, and on the other hand, it must be provided to the Executive Committee and the Ministry of Construction to make a port area planning map after returning.

During the routine contact between the expedition team and the base camp that night, Tom Wang reported the conclusions of the two-day field trip to the executive committee and asked for instructions on the next step.In fact, the expedition team has basically completed the scheduled inspection tasks so far: formulating cross-sea routes, exploring the coastline of the mining area, looking for a suitable port environment, conducting field exploration of the mining area, collecting ore samples, and drawing detailed maps.If the Executive Committee has no new assignments, then the expedition team can prepare to return.

Unexpectedly, this time the Executive Committee did not make a decision immediately. After a brief silence on the radio, the Executive Committee expressed that it needed a little time to study.After the conversation ended, everyone in the expedition team looked at each other in blank dismay, at a loss.

"What does the executive committee mean?" Tom Wang frowned, wondering if there is something we have missed?Or did something happen to the base camp?
"We probably have to delay in Vietnam for a day or two." Xie Chun seemed to have understood something: "The executive committee may send us to the west."

About [-] nautical miles west of Halong Bay is the Red River Delta, the largest grain-producing area in northern Vietnam. The current capital of the Annan regime, and later Hanoi, is located about [-] kilometers west of the Red River Delta inland.In view of the fact that the areas visited by the expedition team in the past few days are basically uninhabited no-man's land, the large labor population required by the future mining area will probably be mainly targeted at Hanoi and its eastern coastal areas.

In terms of the location of the Hongji Coal Mine, Qinzhou and Beihai in the northeast of Guangxi are actually places where immigrants can be considered. Hundreds of nautical miles away to transport people.The Vietnam direction is much more along the way. Most of the ships sailing from Victory Port to Vietnam are empty, and they can stop at the Red River Delta to load people first, and then go to the port area.

But if the executive committee decides to do this, someone must first check the situation in the coastal areas of Vietnam to see how difficult it is to introduce immigrants.Regardless of whether it is due to time or efficiency considerations, it is unlikely that the executive committee will send a special team to do this.And the expedition team currently waiting in Ha Long Bay is undoubtedly the best candidate to complete this task.

Sure enough, more than an hour later, the executive committee got in touch with the expedition team again and gave them the task of searching for areas where immigrants were introduced.

"Everyone, please rest early today. Everyone must cheer up in the next two days. I don't want any accidents in the last part of this journey." Wang Tom was very cautious about the new tasks assigned by the executive committee , in his opinion, the settled areas might be more dangerous than the no-man's lands explored these days.

Early the next morning, the expedition team packed up their luggage, boarded the ship and left the port area where they had been stationed for two days.The fleet crossed Halong Bay all the way west, bypassed the huge Cat Ba Island, and arrived at the location of Haiphong City in the afternoon of the same day.This place is the largest port in northern Vietnam in later generations, and it is also the third largest city in Vietnam after Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City, with a population of more than 200 million.

But when the expedition team saw the scene here with their own eyes, they only felt deeply disappointed.Looking at the situation on the shore through the telescope, we can indeed see signs of human settlements not far from the coast, but the scale is far from meeting the expectations of the expedition team.There are only a few dozen families in the village, and at best it is only a little bigger than the original Yulin fishing village, not even comparable to small towns like Fenghuang and Tianya.

If the expedition team had consulted Ning Qi about the historical situation of Haiphong City in advance, they would not have come here with such high hopes.In Haiphong, until the second half of the 19th century, the population was still only the size of a fishing village.It was not until 1870 that the Nguyen Dynasty opened a port here under the coercion of France, built docks, commercial halls, military depots, etc., and embarked on the development path of a port city.The big coastal city in the impression of the expedition team will take more than 200 years to appear on this land.

"Isn't this too pitiful? Do we really have to go upstream to Hanoi?" Xie Chun couldn't help complaining as he looked at the dilapidated fishing village on the coast.

"No, we can't go to Hanoi by water." Tom Wang shook his head and vetoed Xie Chun's idea: "Our two ships are not river boats, and it is difficult to navigate on the winding rivers inland. Besides, the land distance from here to Hanoi is more than [-] kilometers, and the length of the river may have to double this distance, and it is basically impossible to go by water.”

It is obviously not a good idea to go by land. The number of the expedition team is limited, and at least seven or eight people must be left behind to drive the two sailboats.It is definitely a very risky thing to go deep into a strange country for hundreds of kilometers with a small team of ten people, and also visit the capital of this country.What's more, Ning Qi said that this country is currently in the midst of a civil war between the North and the South. It's hard to say whether a guy in a strange costume like Chuanzhong will be treated as a hostile force if he goes to a densely populated area.

Although the entire team can be equipped with the top weapons of this era, it can be said that they can protect themselves, but they have to be constrained by the primitive traffic conditions.The expedition team didn't even have a mule or horse to carry luggage. It's not impossible to carry supplies for several days across hundreds of kilometers of wilderness by manpower. In an accident, they can only escape with two legs. If they are unlucky, it is hard to say whether they will be able to return to the seaside.

"Let's go ashore first and have a look, and get in touch with the local people before we can make a further judgment." Tom Wang finally made up his mind: "I just don't know if we can communicate in language."

"Don't worry, you should be able to understand. There are many people in northern Vietnam who speak the same vernacular as in Guangdong and Guangxi." Tian Yeyou comforted Wang Tom with confidence.Although he couldn't bring his girlfriend to travel to Vietnam due to work reasons, he did a lot of homework.

To the surprise of the expedition team, the fishermen here are not as afraid of strangers as those in the Yulin fishing village back then. This may be because there are very few pirates in the coastal area of ​​the Beibu Gulf, and the fishermen are not very attracted by outsiders. The reason for the intruder's scourge.

Although these fishing people are illiterate, they can recognize the refined salt brought out by the expedition team, which is much finer than the salt they boiled seawater in earthen pots, and after tasting it, they found that this salt Absolutely none of the bitterness that irritates the taste buds of homemade sea salt.Since the salt market opened up, the Executive Committee has realized that using this product as a stepping stone is almost invincible, even in salt-producing areas-the salt produced by salt farms on a large scale in this era is of high quality and price. It cannot compete with the products of the Executive Committee.

The expedition team was also very pleased to find that the language spoken by the people here was indeed the vernacular with a strong Guangdong and Guangxi accent, as Tian Yeyou expected.There are quite a few people in the expedition team who can speak the vernacular, and Xie Chun, who has been tossed in countless lines, can barely deal with a few words. In this way, there are basically no communication barriers between the expedition team and the local fishermen.

According to the situation learned by the expedition team, the living standard of the fishermen here is actually similar to that of the fishermen in Sanya and Yazhou. aspects of protection.Compared with the Yazhou government's control over the surrounding areas, the Annan regime seems to have less control over the local area. In this coastal area, which is only one or two hundred miles away from the capital, there is neither a government nor a garrison. The people here are completely managed like sheep herding, which is as incredible as Tianjin, which is completely undefended.

According to these immigrants, the nearest densely populated area is about [-] to [-] miles inland. From there, there are large tracts of land occupied by some royal relatives, most of which are used to grow rice.According to the information obtained by the expedition team, this area is the largest grain-producing area in northern Vietnam.And on the vast alluvial plain between here and Hanoi, tens of thousands of farmers are serving as tenant farmers for the nobles, cultivating the land and harvesting food for them.

During the conversation, the expedition team also learned a very important piece of information, that is, in recent months, a large number of people have fled from places such as Hue, Dong Hoi, and Vinh in the south to nearby areas.It is said that because the situation in the south became tense, the dignitaries confronting the north and the south began to recruit nearby people to serve as peasants or even directly as farmers and soldiers.This situation is exactly in line with the Annan political situation that Ning Qi said at the beginning, and a large number of war refugees are undoubtedly the best candidates for labor immigration.

"It seems that we still have to go south." After learning the good news, Wang Tom immediately ordered the expedition team to continue going south along the coast.

Before setting off, the expedition hired two bold young men from the fishing village as guides with salt and silver.An hour later, the fleet bypassed the Do Son Peninsula across the sea from Cat Ba Island. This is a famous scenic spot in later generations, and it is also the only legal casino in Vietnam.In the evening of the same day, the fleet arrived at the southern end of the Red River Delta - the mouth of the Red River.The expedition team will rest here for one night. After dawn, they will visit Qinghua, which is more than 40 nautical miles south of here. It is one of the largest cities between Annan City and the war zone. refugee.

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(End of this chapter)