1627 Rise of the South China Sea

Chapter 153 Disagreement of opinion on the new route
If everything goes well and there are no major accidents, then there is still about a month before the Heitugang Coal Mine starts production.During this period of time, the executive committee still has a big problem to try to solve, that is, the current serious shortage of sea transportation capacity faced by Transtrade Group.

From the beginning of time travel, the time travel group has been stuck in the quagmire of lack of sea transportation capacity and cannot extricate itself.Although there are quite a few ships brought over during the crossing, the combined displacement exceeds [-] tons, but because the fuel reserve is very limited, and after coming to this time and space, it is limited to the production level, and it is impossible to replenish fuel in the short term, including " These ships including the "Shinsekai" have basically become decorations on the shore now-of course, these huge decorations are still very effective in visually shocking the foreigners who have just arrived.

The last time these ships were dispatched was three months ago. After capturing the group of pirates including Takahashi Nan, all the iron ships never left the pier for half a step.If there are no large-scale sea enemies in the future, the Executive Committee will probably not let these ships move easily.Regarding the development direction of the future maritime transportation of the Crossing Group, everyone agrees with the views put forward by the Ministry of Shipping, that is, the status of sail power as the main power of sea-going ships will continue for a long time, even if a steam ship is launched in the future, the same The presence of sails is also indispensable.

Now that the Ministry of Shipping has opened a golden finger and can grasp the development trend of ships in the future, it is a matter of course to build their own factories and ships.However, the difficulty of building a ship by yourself far exceeds the prior estimate. It will take these novices several months to start construction of a sea-going ship with only [-] materials.With the current scale and speed of shipbuilding, several leaders of the military and police department doubt whether they can wait until the day when the steam ironclad ship is launched in their lifetime.

This time, due to the development plan of overseas coal mines, the executive committee spent a lot of money to buy three ships and rented three ships to form a basic cargo fleet.But a fleet of this size is not enough for the ambitious executive committee, but there is no way to get more ships.The shipping industry between the various ports on the main island of Hainan Island is not well developed, and now the executive committee can't find a ship to buy even with money in hand.Although He Xi ordered two sea-going ships of [-] materials at the shipyard in Fucheng, Qiongzhou, it is estimated that they will not be delivered until the end of the year.

According to the executive committee's plan, it is best to maintain a long-term capacity of ten to fifteen cargo ships on the route between Heitu Port and Shengli Port, but now it seems that the fleet of the Ministry of Shipping is still far away from this goal distance.The level of sea transportation capacity is likely to become a new bottleneck restricting the development speed of the Transit Group after manpower.

At present, the only solution that the executive committee can count on is to send people to the mainland to buy ships.The last time "Furuifeng" shopkeeper Li came back from Guangzhou, he brought back two large ships and dozens of sailors and boatmen. This undoubtedly shows that the mainland's shipping market is much more prosperous than Hainan Island.When the development of the Black Soil Port has begun to enter orbit, the Executive Committee is also planning when to open the route to the mainland.

Regarding whether to open a mainland route at this stage, in fact, there have always been two voices in the executive committee and even the grass-roots cross-travelers.

The general aviation school believes that there are many benefits to opening up routes to the mainland. In addition to the well-known reason of opening up emerging markets, the raw materials and various craftsmen that the mainland can provide to the crossing group are not comparable to the small Hainan Island.

Since the opening of the port, although the Crossing Group has tried every means to introduce many immigrants from Yazhou and other places, most of these immigrants used to be engaged in agricultural production, and many people from the Li and Miao ethnic groups even did not know how to farm. However, people with various professional skills such as shipbuilders, carpenters, blacksmiths, plasterers, and stonemasons that the Executive Committee wanted to introduce were very scarce.

This imbalance in the proportion of occupations has caused many technicians among the time-traveling crowd to do some simple and repetitive manual labor. This is undoubtedly a great waste for the time-traveling group, which values ​​talents.Yazhou, with a population of only about [-], originally had a small proportion of craftsmen, and now it is extremely scarce. According to the report sent back by the office in Yazhou, the current housing prices in Yazhou have increased by at least [-]% compared to when they first arrived. A large part of the reason is that a large number of carpenters and plasterers were taken away by the time-traveling group with generous treatment, so that some people wanted to repair the house but couldn't hire craftsmen frequently.

Similar situations are not limited to carpenters and plasterers. In a brick kiln outside Yazhou City, more than 30 people, from foremen to technicians, have all immigrated to Shengli Port because they can earn money here. The remuneration received is twice what it was in Yazhou before.But even if the Yazhou Office has been doing its best to introduce craftsmen from Yazhou, the number of these professionals is far from the level expected by the Executive Committee.

The situation in the mainland is completely different. The population of Guangzhou alone is several times larger than that of the entire Hainan Island. The types and numbers of professional craftsmen are naturally much more abundant than those in the remote town of Yazhou. After the air route, a large number of craftsmen can be introduced from the mainland, thereby rapidly increasing the level of local productivity.

The other group of views is relatively more cautious. They believe that they should not relax their vigilance just because the current relationship with Yazhou officials is still "harmonious". "Overseas chaos" is probably just a matter of paperwork.What's more, the time-traveling group has now extended its private salt business tentacles to Qiongzhou Fucheng and Guangzhou. If it is caught by the salt department in Guangzhou, someone with a heart can make a big fuss in minutes.

The prudent group believes that at this stage, the Time Travel Group should not be in a hurry to stand out, but should focus on developing its own strength first. As for the export of goods, the import of raw materials, and population, they can all be handed over to agents.In this way, not only can avoid the risks during the sea transportation, but also can avoid the attention of the officials by showing their faces in Guangzhou.

Of course, if the reason for the prudent faction is only this, then it must not be convincing enough.In fact, the Prudence School has another very strong argument that the Tonghang School cannot refute, and that is the existence of Western forces in the Guangzhou area.

During this period, Guangzhou was one of the most important foreign trading ports of Ming Dynasty, and merchant ships from various western maritime powers had already gathered here.The Portuguese, the Spaniards, the Dutch, the French, and the British are all forces that have long been listed as important future competitors by the executive committee. If they know the existence of "Haihan", what kind of actions will they take? Attitude, now, is completely unpredictable.

Maybe there will be Western merchants who are sensitive to business opportunities coming to Victory Port to trade with the Transit Group, but it is also very likely to attract the covetousness of certain forces-especially when they learn that this place can produce industries that are not even in Europe. It is really hard to say what kind of attitude will be maintained towards Time Travel Group when it is finished.No one knows whether these predatory sea bandits will take risks under the trend of interests and adopt some aggressive hostile methods against the crossing group.For the Portuguese, Dutch, and Spaniards who have already established strongholds in the Far East, the Transit Group, which is currently seriously lacking in sea power, is simply a piece of fat, and they can be caught in their own bowls as long as they stretch out their hands.They don't even need to attack Shengli Port, as long as they directly cut off the sea route outside Shengli Port, they can trap the crossing group in this small harbor.

Of course, there is another possibility. Before the fat meat of the Crossing Group attracts all the sea powers to Victory Port, it has already attracted a large number of pirates in the coastal area.The pirate gang that attacked from Leizhou last time was just a small and unknown team among the coastal pirates. For a really big pirate gang like Shibazhi, the Traversing Group simply does not have the ability to resist directly.If they are really targeted by this kind of big pirate group, the only thing that the transversal people can do is to hide in the bastion of the No. [-] base for defensive operations, and wait for the opponent to lose patience before retreating on their own.

The situation in the South China Sea is very complicated. The prudent faction believes that at a time when the Crossing Group is still lacking the power to protect itself, it should not rush into this muddy water, but to develop steadily and build a reliable China's sea power will then consider the opening of shipping routes.

The disagreement between these two factions has never stopped since the time travel. The public says that the public is right and the woman says that the woman is right. The executive committee members of the keyboard will fight with each other on the forum every now and then, and the opinions of the executive committee have always been Undecided, and no final decision has been made on this.

This situation was maintained until mid-August, when a fleet from Guangzhou arrived at Shengli Port, which put an end to this protracted debate.

The last time the shopkeeper Li of "Furuifeng" came back from the Guangzhou head office, he had sent a letter to the executive committee. In the near future, high-level personnel from "Furuifeng" will come to Shengli Port to contact them to discuss long-term stability business cooperation model.This time, not only came the people, but also brought the money, and also brought two big ships purchased in Guangzhou for the Time Travel Group.

The fleet had already been spotted by the sea patrol ship outside the Shengli Port. After the sea patrol ship approached and learned of the other party's intention, it immediately notified the port through the walkie-talkie, and the port quickly contacted Tiandu Industrial Zone.So several executive committee members immediately rode bicycles all the way back to Shengli Port to meet this distinguished guest who was said to be an executive from the head office of "Furuifeng".

(End of this chapter)