1627 Rise of the South China Sea

Chapter 158 Boy Scouts

Whether the Yazhou government is really as bad as Schneider said, Li Nai is not sure, but one thing should be beyond doubt—the people here should all work for the Haihan people spontaneously, because from what he saw Under the circumstances, these people do not have any resistance when doing things.

The most important thing is that Li Nai didn't see the ashen, numb, and groveling expressions that usually appear on the faces of ordinary civilians. On the contrary, everyone here seems to have a kind of Lee Chennai can not understand nor describe the spiritual head.Without the driving of the whip and the scolding of the foreman, every worker on the dock is consciously performing his duties. When the militiamen on guard saluted Schneider, the awe from the heart on their faces was not pretending. from.

Such a change among the people is obviously not due to the Yazhou Navy or the Yulin Inspection Department. They probably have no chance to intervene in the civil affairs management of this place.Only the Haihan people can do all this. Although they don't understand how the Haihan people do it, Li Nai has already deeply felt the depth of their influence in the local area.

The simplicity of the camp in the base also left a deep impression on Li Nai and He Qiang. Although they have heard that the living environment of the Haihan people is extremely frugal, they have witnessed with their own eyes that these businessmen who are making money every day actually live in some weak-looking houses. In Jingfeng's board room, Li Nai still admired their tenacity: "Since your side is good at doing business, why don't you just move to Guangzhou, buy land and build a house, wouldn't it be a hundred times better than here?"

"We will go to Guangzhou sooner or later, but this is where we started, and we will not give up easily." Tao Donglai strode towards them while speaking: "In a few years, the prosperity here will definitely be no less than that of Guangzhou. Guangzhou, and will become the largest trade center in the entire South China Sea!"

Tao Donglai and others rode bicycles all the way back from Tiandu after receiving the notification from the port. It took only half an hour to arrive at Base No. [-]. This was also thanks to the road between the two places being repaired. In the past, you could only take a boat and go down the river slowly, and you couldn't reach the port in about two hours.

Schneider immediately introduced the two parties. When Li Nai and He Qiang heard that these newcomers were Haihan "executive committee members" who had the same status as Schneider, they were immediately in awe.They have all heard the internal management structure of the Haihan people mentioned by shopkeeper Li of Yazhou. The "executive committee" is the person in power among the Haihan people, and there are less than ten people in total. The "Executive Committee" is elected by ordinary Haihan people, and the "Executive Committee" composed of "Executive Committee members" is the highest authority of the Haihan people.

At that time, Li Jifeng also laughed and said that this organization of Haihan people was quite similar to that of the township party clan, and they all elected several highly respected figures to be in charge. "These people, like the clan, are all a group of old folks who are related to each other.

But Li Nai's views are different now, these executive committee members are all young and strong, with an unconcealable confidence in their brows.Li Nai thinks that this is a kind of temperament that only those who have been in high positions for a long time have, and it is not comparable to the head of the country gentry in the village party of any clan.However, the temperament of the Haihan executive committee seems to be different from the bureaucratic atmosphere of the officials of the Ming Dynasty. It lacks a lot of rhetoric and speaks with a strong purpose. This makes Li, who is used to dealing with scholars of the Ming Dynasty, Nana was still a little uncomfortable.

"After all, they are a group of businessmen." Li Nai could only explain the behavior of the Haihan people in this way.But even with such thoughts to comfort himself, Li Nai has to admit that these Haihan people are quite different from ordinary businessmen. Their speech and behavior show that everyone has received a good education, and they are not at the level of peddlers. Not to mention the reckless people like sea smuggling merchants who are both merchants and pirates can compare with it.If we put it in the Ming Dynasty, people like them must come from certain aristocratic families, but this kind of people obviously will not engage in business, which belongs to the bottom of the society, like the Haihan people.

"The two of you have worked hard all the way from Guangzhou, and we will host a banquet tonight to welcome you. If you feel tired, we can arrange for you to rest for a while now." Tao Donglai was not in a hurry to follow They immediately started talking about business, sharpening their knives and cutting firewood. Some things may be more effective when they are discussed at the wine table than in the conference room.

Li Nai clasped his fists and said, "Mr. Tao, you are welcome! We see that this place is very different from Guangzhou and other places. If you can provide convenience, I would like to travel here and gain some knowledge."

What he saw and heard after arriving in Victory Port has aroused great interest for Li Nai, and he can't wait to see what the real situation is hidden behind the good social order of Victory Port.Of course, before making this request, Li Nai was already mentally prepared to be rejected by the other party—how could two foreigners be allowed to run around in a place where even the local inspection department has been suspended?
To his surprise, Tao Donglai agreed immediately: "No problem, but for the convenience of the two of you traveling, please allow me to accompany you, and I can also answer your questions by the way."

So the executive committee members were divided into two groups. Tao Donglai and Schneider were responsible for taking two merchants to visit the local people, while the others had to deal with the goods and personnel brought by "Furuifeng" from Guangzhou this time—except for " In addition to the entourage of "Fu Ruifeng", two seagoing ships and a large amount of industrial raw materials, there are dozens of sailors, boatmen, craftsmen and their families who need to be registered and resettled.

Before leaving, Yan Chujie pulled Tao Donglai aside and told him: "Old Tao, you can show them around, but you must be cautious, and you can't talk too much about some military matters."

Tao Donglai patted him on the shoulder and said, "Don't worry, I have a measure. After the industrial raw materials are counted, they will be sent to Tiandu as soon as possible. The people in the chemical industry have been waiting for these things until their eyes are green."

Although the Sanya area is rich in iron, manganese, phosphorus and other mineral deposits, there are not many other mineral resources. Raw materials such as saltpeter and sulfur, which are in great demand, can only be purchased from Yazhou and others.This time, "Furuifeng" transported a large amount of industrial raw materials from Guangzhou, including saltpeter and sulfur urgently needed by the military and chemical industries. This has directly led to the cessation of all firearms training in the new barracks, and even the new artillery test firing work of the Ministry of Military Industry has been greatly affected.

Theoretically speaking, the proportion of pyrite in Tiandu iron ore is not small, and sulfur powder can be extracted from pyrite through some chemical means.But so far, this method has only stayed in the laboratory stage and has not been put into large-scale production for the time being.However, the chemical port has already issued a military order, and will solve the technical obstacles to industrialized sulfur powder extraction by the end of the year at the latest.

And the first nitrate field with an area of ​​50 mu has been put into operation under the joint operation of the Ministry of Agriculture and the chemical industry department.This method of making nitrate by local method was promoted on a large scale in the [-]s, and it is also very suitable for the current production level in Sanya. The raw material only needs human and animal manure.Although there is no output for the time being, the relevant departments are sure that the commissioning of the salt field will largely solve the disadvantage of no local output of saltpeter.

Although it is necessary to keep military secrets to a certain extent, the first place Li Nai and He Qiang were taken to visit was the location of the new barracks where the crossing group trained the militia.

Located in the southeast of the Tiandu River estuary, this large sandbar, which is also the location of the submarine base of the South China Sea Fleet, is no longer in the barren state of a few months ago, and a large area of ​​barracks and training facilities have been built.In the eastern inland near the foot of the mountain, a large area was also set aside to build a firearms range.At present, the firearms training of the militia and the firearms test firing of the military industry department are all carried out in this place.Only because of the recent shortage of gunpowder, the shooting range has temporarily become quiet.

As soon as the group got off the ferry to the trestle bridge, Li Nai saw a group of militiamen... No, to be precise, a group of children walked over quickly.These children were no more than ten years old, and the younger ones still had snotty noses. They wore uniform green clothes and pants, and the striped yellow armband on the left sleeve represented their Scout status.

These children did not wear any weapons, only the head of the child hung a copper whistle with a thin rope around his neck.The child looked like he was only thirteen or fourteen years old, and his thin body looked a little malnourished, but he still shouted "Stand Attention" energetically.A group of children of different heights stopped behind him, followed his command to "turn right", and turned to the right to face Tao Donglai and wait for the group.

Li Nai noticed that a child turned in the wrong direction, but he quickly realized his mistake, quickly turned back to the right side, and then quietly raised his hand with his sleeve to wipe away the snot that was about to fall.

This small gesture was lucky to escape the gaze of the boy's head, because the attention of the boy's head is now on Tao Donglai's side - he raised his chest and raised his hand, and then reported loudly: "The first company of the Scout Battalion Report to the chief in three shifts in a row!"

Tao Donglai returned the salute solemnly, and then ordered: "Soldier, I have an important task for you now. You have to lead your men and guard the boat here until we return here. Answer loudly Me, can you do it?"

As expected, the child answered loudly: "Please rest assured, sir!"

Tao Donglai saluted again, the child returned the salute and said loudly, "Serve the executive committee!"

Li Nai and He Qiang, who had witnessed the whole process, were dumbfounded and didn't know what to say.

(End of this chapter)