1627 Rise of the South China Sea

Chapter 1763 Demonstration of Force ([-])

As a country that frequently waged wars with other countries, the casualty rate of the Haihan army in the war was shockingly low. Such battle losses could even be ignored in Ming Dynasty.However, Fei Cexian thought about it again, and it was precisely because the battle damage of the Haihan Army was low enough that the officials could give extremely generous treatment to the dead in terms of pensions.If, like Daming, the number of deaths on the battlefield every year is more than five figures, then Haihan officials may not be able to make such a gesture.

As for whether the figures mentioned by Yan Chujie were false reports, Fei Cexian had no doubts. The Haihan Army itself had extremely limited strength, and if there were heavy casualties, it would be impossible to cover them up.Moreover, the combat power of the Haihan army is obviously stronger than that of competitors in the region, and the casualty figures only confirm this point again from the side, and there is no need for the official to falsify such trivial issues.

The end of the military parade means that the official activities this morning have come to an end. Next, the various troops will leave Victory Square one after another, and then they will get at least two days off.The guests participating in the ceremony will participate in the luncheon hosted by the Haihan Executive Committee, and take a boat out to sea in the afternoon to watch the naval parade and amphibious military exercise.

For ordinary people, the two most important events of this year's National Day, the fireworks display and the military parade, have ended, and the rest are some celebrations organized by the people spontaneously.As for the maritime military exercise that will be held in the afternoon, ordinary people have little chance to watch it at close range. Except for some cruise ships registered under the name of the traversers, all other civilian ships have been prohibited from leaving the port since yesterday.Ximaozhou, where the amphibious military exercise was held, was more than a dozen miles away from the land, and it was basically impossible to watch the excitement on the nearby coast. At most, you could hear the sound of artillery from the sea breeze from a distance.

However, the public does not have many regrets about this. After all, the government rarely opened activities such as military exercises to the public in the past.Those who really want to watch the war don’t need to complain. If you sign up to join the army, you will have more opportunities to set foot on the real battlefield.

Although the folk celebrations in Haihan are not as big as the official ones, they are not much less lively. Various flower festivals, lantern shows, and garden parties can be seen everywhere in the city, and you can even see dry boats on stilts from the northern inland on the streets. performances like that.

The restaurants and restaurants are naturally full, and almost all the stores with better locations have long queues.As a seaport with abundant fish catches, Sanya's seafood today has seen a rare increase in price due to the shortage of supply.Of course, anyone with a discerning eye knows that this is actually directly related to the ban on seas that started last night. There were not as many fresh catches supplied to the market this morning as usual.However, the public did not complain too much about this. After all, the government took this measure to ensure that the National Day activities can go smoothly.

However, the official state banquet held by Haihan will not be affected by the supply of ingredients, and the privileged class can naturally enjoy fresh seafood supplied by special channels.On this kind of international diplomatic occasion, Haihan officials will not think too much about the cost of holding activities, and strive to be commensurate with the country's international influence.Compared with the previous day's diplomatic dinner, today's atmosphere is more relaxed, and the diplomatic envoys who have been tense can relax and enjoy the food.Although there is still an amphibious exercise to watch in the afternoon, everyone knows that this is a part of Haihan's display of force. Most people don't have any pressure on this, and they can just watch Haihan's performance with peace of mind.

Fei Cexian and Su Keyi, who voluntarily left the venue early the day before yesterday because they felt humiliated, were no longer impulsive today.Of course they are not for this luncheon, but they want to stay and wait to watch the naval parade and military exercise in the afternoon.Among the foreign envoys who were invited to participate in the National Day event, they were the two who cared the most about this.

From the standpoint of Daming and the Netherlands, Haihan is undoubtedly one of the main competitors in this region, and the situation of the two can be said to be the same. Both were robbed by Haihan of the area that was originally under their control, and there were also people who were robbed by Haihan. Haihan continued to suppress the trend.Although there were some conflicts between the two sides before this, that was an old thing many years ago. Now, in the face of stronger opponents, there is a faint trend of cooperation between the two parties.

Su Keyi's previous overtures did not make Fei Cexian let go, but the two sides have learned more about each other's positions, and there is no such a big gap between them when they get along.Most of these countries that sent personnel to participate in Haihan's National Day chose to be in the same camp as Haihan, and the two of them didn't bother to be with them, so they could only accompany each other.However, in order to avoid arousing Hai Han's vigilance, they still did not intentionally stay together in public, but only occasionally met their eyes, and they would give a tacit nod in tacit agreement.

However, the senior officials of Haihan have no time to take into account their personal feelings at this time. They have spent a lot of money on organizing the National Day celebrations this year. Earn it back.In addition to the arms sales that have come to an end, Haihan officials also hope to take this opportunity to promote the industrial products produced in the country to a larger market.

Today, the entire East Asia is still in the farming era. As long as the markets of various countries can be opened up, the existing primary industry in Haihan Country is enough to obtain huge profits in cross-border trade through price scissors.And Haihan pulled the South China Sea countries to form a trade alliance. On the one hand, it was to lay the foundation for the establishment of a military alliance organization, and on the other hand, it was to use this to open up the markets of various countries.Although there is no lack of insightful people in various countries, it is difficult to rest assured about the trading system dominated by Haihan, but after all, they are still unable to withstand the two-pronged approach of coercion and temptation, and they have gradually opened their doors to allow merchants to import various products produced by Haihan.

After the opening of trade relations with Haihan, it will indeed play a certain role in stimulating the country's economic situation. After all, Haihan has a very large demand for various raw materials, and will more or less purchase some local products from this country.Haihan even allows trade partners to barter, or purchase Haihan products in the form of low-interest or even interest-free loans.

From a national perspective, cross-border trade has brought significant economic prosperity, and the revenue of the treasury will also increase accordingly. This increase in income levels is a very significant change for small countries in the South China Sea.All countries, including Annan, believe that doing business with Haihan is a win-win move. Few people have carefully considered what role Haihan played in the trade, and who is the one who benefits the most.

After all, in this era, the vast majority of people are limited by their vision. Officials are often very unfamiliar with the ways of cross-border trade, and almost all those who can be called economic experts in East Asia are concentrated in Haihan.Even if the business operation plans planned by Schneider were handed over to the senior officials of these countries for study, it would be difficult to fully understand the economic principles in them, and basically they could only be taken by Haihan in the trade.

In the process, the capital and financial system from Haihan are also continuously infiltrating these countries and regions, but such silent operations hardly attract attention.For example, Haihan has been indirectly influencing the grain market in the Batavia region through Cheng Dapeng in recent years. Although the East India Company has begun to try to regain control of the grain market, it still only considers it a business However, he did not fully realize that many of Cheng Dapeng's business operations came from his backer.

For most countries, Haihan's frightening feature mainly comes from its powerful armed forces, and few people realize its power in similar economic and trade means.Even Fei Cexian, a diplomatic official who is wary of and distrusts Haihan, doesn't really realize the purpose of Haihan asking Ming to open the country to allow normal trade.

During the National Day event, Haihan has trade agreements to be signed with many countries.Most of these agreements have already been negotiated before then, and they are waiting to be announced on official occasions during the National Day celebrations.Among them are buying and selling, and there are also some cooperation projects, but Da Ming and Holland did not participate in it, so this time they can only act as spectators.

Although alcoholic beverages were provided during the luncheon, the high-ranking officials of Haihan did not toast frequently. This was also in consideration of the arrangement of activities in the afternoon. Dare to imagine.Those who really want to drink don't need to rush at this moment, there will be an official thank-you dinner to be held in the evening, so you can naturally let go and drink your fill.

However, most people were thinking about the fun to watch in the afternoon, so the luncheon didn't last long, and ended in a little over an hour.Then, the Haihan Ministry of Commerce came forward to sign trade agreements with various countries, and it took nearly an hour to finish.Fei Cexian and Su Keyi had nothing to do, sitting next to them almost fell asleep, and finally waited for the staff to inform them to leave.

Many high-ranking Haihan officials and their family members who participated in the military parade in the morning will not go out to sea with the boat in the afternoon, and some businessmen also have their own affairs to be busy, so the number of people who go to Victory Port to take the military sailboat to sea in the afternoon is much smaller.But the Navy still sent three majestic-class warships to the port to meet these guests.However, with fewer people, the activity space on the deck is correspondingly more vacant, and the viewing environment is better.

After the three warships sailed out of Victory Port, they sailed south to Yulinjiao and stopped. This is where the naval parade was scheduled.Not long after, the naval fleet was seen filing out from Victory Harbor and slowly heading south in a long snake formation.When passing these three warships, the sailors and crew members of the ships gathered on the right side of the ship, and saluted the honored guests on the Majestic-class warship.

In addition to the navy of the garrison troops stationed in Sanya, the fleet participating in the military parade also included troops returning from Manila and naval forces from Danzhou and Haikou. There were more than [-] ships in total.However, the several conventional warships that can often be seen in Victory Harbor obviously cannot satisfy the discerning eyes of the guests. Many people are waiting for the legendary almost invincible warship to appear.

But it took a long time to wait until the last ship of the troops under review appeared outside Victory Harbor, and finally someone exclaimed: "The Black Shark, it's the Black Shark that has come out!"

As a symbol of the highest combat power of the Haihan Navy, the Black Shark was ranked last, and was dragged away by about two or three miles from the large forces in front, but this further highlighted the special status of this ship.Everyone cheered up and opened their eyes wide. Those with binoculars quickly took them out and brought them closer to their eyes, hoping to see the details of the ship's shape clearly.

But the Black Shark does not seem to be in a hurry to show its strength at this time, but like other ships, it slowly passes through the review area at a steady speed.Compared with the crew members in white sailor suits on the deck of the Black Shark, everyone's attention was focused on the rotating turrets on the ship.It is said that relying on this powerful new naval gun, the Black Shark single-handedly destroyed nearly half of the Spanish warships in the Manila naval battle.

Some guests had seen the battleship's powerful performance in firing and shooting in the crossing military exercise held in the Beibu Gulf the summer before last, and they were still relatively calm at the moment.And some guests who saw this ship for the first time couldn't hide their curiosity about this new type of naval gun, so they began to ask left and right how the naval gun would adjust its bombardment direction during wartime.

After all the ships under review sailed past Yulinjiao, the three warships aboard the honored guests lifted anchor and sailed again, followed the task force, and sailed westward around Yulinjiao.

After sailing smoothly for a while, the three warships activated their steam propulsion systems.The guests felt the vibration from below the deck, and many of them changed their faces, but those who knew a little about the Hai Han battleship knew that the source of this vibration was the steam engine hidden deep in the cabin.As the chimneys on the ship began to emit thick smoke and dust, the speed of the three warships also increased rapidly, and they had surpassed the slow-moving Black Shark in a short time, allowing the guests to watch this scene at close range once again. The unique shape of an advanced warship.

Passing the Luhuitou Peninsula, the three warships had surpassed most of the task force. At this time, an officer explained to them that they would go to Ximaozhou, eight nautical miles away, for an amphibious landing exercise.

Immediately, someone asked with concern: "Will the Black Shark participate in the exercise?"

After getting an affirmative answer, the guests' emotions rose again.After hearing and reading many battle reports from the Battle of Manila, almost everyone is full of interest in the actual performance of the Black Shark on the battlefield, and the highlight of today's exercise is undoubtedly watching the performance of the Black Shark.The guests wanted to know whether the fame of this ship came from Haihan officials' deliberate hype, or whether it was really invincible.

(End of this chapter)