1627 Rise of the South China Sea

Chapter 220 Trip to Vietnam ([-])

If a strategic support point can be established at the location of the Tushan Peninsula, then the entire coastal area of ​​the Red River Delta can be effectively monitored.And the distance from here to Heitu Port is only about [-] nautical miles. Once something happens, Heitu Port will have time to provide support.Of course, the biggest difficulty in building a stronghold here is not funds or materials, but personnel.

The current population of Heitu Port has exceeded [-], but the military and police force is less than [-].If this manpower is only used as a maintainer of social order, it is enough, but if it is to be used as a military defense force, or even an advance team for external expansion, then such a manpower is really not enough.And with such a limited manpower, it has been divided into four parts, respectively stationed in the mining area, residential area, port area, and the Fushuizhou Island supply station between Heitu Port and Hainan Island.It is obviously not realistic to think of taking out manpower from here to garrison the Tushan Peninsula.

Of course, there is a secret backup plan within the Military and Police Department, which is proposed by Qian Tiandun. Heitu Port will raise its own funds and personnel to form and train a combat force with mountainous and jungle operations as its main combat areas. .In this way, some manpower can be transferred from Heitu Port to set up a long-term base in Tushan Peninsula.

This plan is not a problem in terms of personnel. There are a steady stream of immigrants arriving at Black Earth Port to be selected slowly. Even if they are selected from a hundred, some good seedlings can be selected.The main difficulty lies in funds and armaments. At the beginning of the opening of the port, all the investment in Heitu Port came from the base camp. Both funds and armaments were heavily dependent on the supply of the base camp. Without the support of the base camp, it would definitely not be possible.And if this plan is directly reported to the executive committee, it is afraid that it will be refuted by the opposition. Therefore, although the port of Heitu Port has been opened for two months, this plan has been shelved waiting for the right time.

Tao Donglai and others boarded the hill at the southeastern tip of the Tushan Peninsula. From here, you can have a bird's-eye view of the coast and sea within dozens of miles. You can clearly see Catba Island, which is ten miles away, across the sea without the help of binoculars. , and the estuaries of several rivers within the range of Haiphong City in later generations are also within the range of vision, which is indeed an excellent monitoring location.

"A good place!" Tao Donglai couldn't help sighing: "Occupying this place is equivalent to occupying the mouth of the sea in the northeast of Vietnam!"

"Although this place is not big, if necessary, 2000 people can be stationed there. It is within a day's flight from Heitu Port and Fushuizhou Island. If the military needs to intervene in Vietnam in the future, this place is really excellent. A support point." Wang Tom added.It was his opinion that made the Military and Police Department notice the geographical importance of the Tushan Peninsula.

"The most important thing is that there are no threatening forces in the vicinity." Xie Chun also joined the discussion: "We have repeatedly touched the sea along the coastline from Heitu Port to Thanh Hoa several times, and found no pirates. The nearest Vietnamese garrison to the Tu Son Peninsula is already hundreds of miles away, and it is unlikely to pose a threat here. We only need to transport a few hundred laborers from the Black Earth Port and spend half a month repairing the barracks, docks and Basic defense facilities, and then send a small number of troops, this place will be taken."

Tao Donglai glanced sideways at Xie Chun, and asked with a smile, "You kid and Qian Tiandun have already colluded, right?"

Xie Chun did not deny this: "We have indeed discussed it. It would be a pity to abandon this place. Even if we have to pay some price, we should take it down! Even if we don't have enough soldiers now, we can move first." Some people came to settle here, just like what we did on Fushuizhou Island, build supply stations first, and then consider building military strongholds."

Tao Donglai nodded, and said noncommittally: "The idea is good, but the strategic position of this place is much higher than that of Fushuizhou Island. I'm afraid it won't work if we don't garrison troops."

"Whether you can garrison troops or not depends on Mr. Tao's performance in the executive committee." Xie Chun stared at Tao Donglai eagerly.

Tao Donglai smiled and said, "There's no rush, let's talk about this matter after we finish negotiating the deal with the Vietnamese this time."

The reason why the fleet docked at Tushan Peninsula was because the Heitu Port Management Committee and the other side had already made an appointment to meet here.The other party hoped that the Traveling Group could directly send people to Hanoi for a meeting, but considering the safety issue, they finally booked the meeting place at Tushan Peninsula.But because of the inconvenience of communication in this era, the two parties only agreed on a rough meeting time in advance, and Tao Donglai and others arrived here two days earlier than the agreed time.

In order to comfort the crew and accompanying militiamen, a traditional seafood barbecue banquet was held on the shore that night.The Beibu Gulf is a tropical and subtropical inland sea. The natural conditions are very suitable for the rapid growth and reproduction of various marine organisms. It is also a famous fishing ground in later generations.The marine biological resources here are very rich, and the crew just fished a few nets randomly in the bay, and they pulled up a lot of good things.

After a full meal, Xie Chun rubbed his belly and said, "The happiest thing after time travel is that I can finally eat seafood for free until I'm full!"

Tom Wang laughed and said, "No wonder you want to get into the navy with all your heart. It turns out that you have this kind of foodie mentality!"

Xie Chun waved his hand and said, "If it was just for eating, I would have joined the food group long ago. Brother, I have obtained a second-level chef certificate back then."

"You are really versatile!" Tao Donglai also entered the tent where they lived during the conversation: "We arrived a day or two ahead of schedule, and we are also idle, how about going out to sea tomorrow and looking around? I want to visit Cat Ba Island."

"Then we have to leave early, we only have about half a day." Tom Wang answered, "A telegram was sent from Heitu Port just now, and Qian Tiandun will come over in person tomorrow."

"He has to come, he is the one who contacted this business." Xie Chun responded.

There are no foreign trade personnel in the staffing of Heitu Port, so after the management committee of Heitu Port proposed to achieve the goal of economic independence as soon as possible through foreign trade means, the work of carrying out foreign trade can only be entrusted to the two departments of shipping and military police. ——Only people from these two departments have direct contact with Vietnam.

Regarding self-financing, Qian Tiandun, who had the goal of military expansion in mind, was quite enthusiastic, while Xie Chun, who was in charge of shipping affairs, was also a fan of the military. The two hit it off.As for the method of opening foreign trade channels, although both of them are laymen, after the two cobblers got together, they still came up with a stupid way.

Qian Tiandun first obtained the information of the current residents of Heitu Port from the civil affairs department, found out those few literate immigrants, and started interviewing them one by one.Qian Tiandun believes that in a purely agricultural country like Vietnam, people who can read and write must have a relatively good family environment, and their knowledge and social connections are of course more than ordinary people.

Qian Tiandun's purpose is very simple, it is to find people from among the immigrants who can connect with the Vietnamese side, and this kind of method, which is similar to blind cats catching mice, has actually achieved results. Find a guy who is said to be a distant relative of the powerful.

This immigrant named Zheng Lin is said to be related to Ping'an King Zheng Song. He was separated from his family during his escape to the north. Later, he fled to Qinghua with other refugees, and was taken on a boat to Heitu Port inexplicably.After arriving here, because he was still a bit educated, he was assigned to the coal mine to count the performance of the miners. Except for the fact that the coal ash was a little bigger, it was still a relatively easy position.

However, Qian Tiandun and Xie Chun are not familiar with the history of Vietnam, and they don't know who this Ping'an King Zheng Song is.Not only did they not know, even the entire Heitu Port crossing crowd did not know, so in the end they could only ask for help from the base camp by telegram.

Then the long telegram from the base camp explained their doubts, and the Ping An King Zheng Song had a lot of background.Zheng Song's father, Zheng Jian, was a powerful minister in the Later Li Dynasty. He was once named "the capital general, controlling the waters and battalions everywhere, and the chief of the internal and external affairs of the country, the grand master, and the Duke of Liangguo". For many times in the century, he represented the Li Dynasty, which ruled the south, and led troops to attack the Mo Dynasty in the north. After Zheng Jian died of illness in 16, his second son, Zheng Song, quickly took his place and continued the Northern Expedition. In 1570, he finally conquered the Thang Long Mansion and wiped out the two emperors of the Mo dynasty. Li Sejong sold the title of "King of Peace".

However, the political situation in Vietnam has always been chaotic. After the success of the Northern Expedition of the Hou Le Dynasty, this chaotic situation has not changed. The puppet empress Li Shenzong became the emperor, and this is one of the triggers for the current military confrontation between the North and the South.After that, the Nguyen family, who had ruled the south, announced that they would sever all ties with the Zheng family, and did not recognize the Houli regime under the control of the Zheng family. After that, the North-South War began in the summer of 1627.

However, before the start of this new round of the North-South War, Ping'an King Zheng Song had already died in 1623 in the internal strife of the Zheng family.At present, Zheng Song's successor is his eldest son Zheng Bing, who is titled King of Qingdu.At this time, the Ruan family in the south had controlled most of Guangnan, Hue, and Champa, and it seemed to have become an independent kingdom, which had already posed a great threat to the Zheng family in the north. Launched an attack on the southern Nguyen clan in 1627.

And the immigrant named Zheng Lin that Qian Tiandun and others found in Heitu Port, in terms of kinship, he and Zheng Bing, who is currently in power in northern Vietnam, are distant uncles and nephews. Or relatives.

As long as they are relatives, it is fine to be able to establish a relationship with the dignitaries of North Vietnam. This is exactly the kind of connection that Black Earth Port needs.Qian Tiandun immediately brought this Zheng Lin out, sent him to the coast near Haiphong, and sent more than a dozen naturalized people to escort him all the way back to Hanoi.The purpose of Qian Tiandun's doing this is very simple, that is, he hopes to convey the willingness of trade to the Vietnamese dignitaries in the north through Zheng Lin.Black Earth Port is not worried that it will not receive a reply from the other party, because the trade item they proposed is salt that the current North Vietnamese regime cannot refuse.

Sure enough, the fleet sent to escort Zheng Lin did not wait too long at the seaside. Five days later, the envoys sent from Hanoi arrived here by boat.After looking at the refined salt samples provided by Heitu Port, the other party quickly reached a trade agreement, agreeing on the transaction price, delivery time and place.

And behind this North Vietnamese business group, it is said that Zheng Zuo, the son of Qingdu King Zheng Bing, participated in the operation.This Zheng Zuo is not an unknown person. In history, he took over Zheng Yu's class in 1654 and became the next generation of the Zheng regime. The Qing army united against Wu Sangui.

However, Zheng Zuo, who is only 21 years old, is currently only the second-generation official, and he is not yet capable of interfering in the political situation in Vietnam.But for a privileged class like Zheng Zuo, it is very easy to take advantage of the opportunity of the North-South War to make a little money for the country.With Zheng Zuo's protection, the first two salt transactions were successfully completed. After that, Qian Tiandun expressed his willingness to sell weapons, especially firearms, to the other party through the established news channels.

The arms trade and the smuggling of salt are two completely different concepts. The other party is obviously very cautious about this. After several meetings and passing messages back and forth, the time and place for the meeting between the two parties are determined.At this time, Heitugang sent the news back to the base camp, and hoped that the base camp would send high-level people to attend the meeting, because it is said that the other party will also have powerful figures present, and it is likely to be the future North Vietnamese ruler Zheng Zuo.

If this transaction can be negotiated, it will greatly advance the time for Vietnam to enter the era of hot weapons.In the original history, it was not until 1642 when Zheng Bing attacked Nguyen that the North Vietnamese army used the cannon provided by the Dutch as a means of attack for the first time on the battlefield.And now the artillery that the crossing group can provide to the North Vietnamese regime has surpassed the competitors 15 years later in terms of performance.

After breakfast the next morning, Tao Donglai and others boarded the "Flying Speed", and Wang Tom drove away from the Tushan Peninsula.Tao Donglai agreed in principle to the establishment of a strategic support point on the Tushan Peninsula.However, hearing is believing and seeing is believing. For the surrounding geographical conditions, one has to see it with one's own eyes. That's why Tao Donglai seized this little time and went out to sea by boat to inspect the surrounding environment.

The "Flying Speed" first went south and circled along the coastline, then turned back to the north, and sailed along the river estuary to the center of Haiphong in later generations, and checked the small fishing village there.However, that small fishing village has been emptied for a long time, and most of the villagers have moved to Heitu Port to settle down.

Next, the "Flying Speed" made a big circle around Catba Island, and roughly inspected the largest island in the entire Halong Bay area with an area of ​​more than [-] square kilometers.The island is mostly rolling hills, and the proportion of flat land that can be used for agricultural reclamation is very small, but there are many rare tree species on the island, and the scenery is also very beautiful.It is more accurate to say that this trip is a sightseeing tour rather than an inspection tour.

At three o'clock in the afternoon, "Flying Speed" completed the inspection trip and returned to Tushan Peninsula.An hour later, the sailboat sailing from Heitu Port also appeared in the field of vision.

Qian Tiandun stepped down from the diving board, and first saluted Tao Donglai as a military salute. After Tao Donglai returned the salute, he shook hands with him and said with a smile, "You've got a lot of tan!"

"I can't help it. I spend every day outdoors, so I can't do anything for nothing." Qian Tiandun replied with a wry smile.

Tao Donglai caught a glimpse of Gao Qiaonan standing straight behind him, and he also boasted, "I heard that Corporal Gao Qiao is doing very well in Heitu Port!"

Gao Qiaonan raised his chin a lot when he heard the words, and replied loudly: "This is all the trust of the Executive Committee and Lieutenant Qian!"

Tao Donglai smiled, stretched out his hand and patted Qian Tiandun's shoulder and said, "Good training!"

After a short greeting, several responsible persons entered the tent set up on the shore and began to discuss the next work.Tomorrow is the agreed time to meet with the other party, and there are still many transaction details that need to be discussed and confirmed by everyone.

From Tao Dong's point of view, business negotiation is actually another kind of marching and fighting. Only by grasping as much information as possible in advance and knowing yourself and the enemy can you make a more accurate judgment. Therefore, after sitting down, he straight to the point and asked Qian Tian Dun asked: "Based on the situation you have now, can you infer the other party's attitude towards this negotiation?"

Qian Tiandun replied: "Our contact with the other party is carried out through the caravan sent by the other party, so it is difficult to say whether the information they conveyed is out of shape. But since the other party is willing to arrange such an interview opportunity, I I think they should still be very interested. After all, they can’t make such things as firearms by themselves, and they have no place to buy them. It’s their luck to meet us.”

"Then do you think it is possible to get the other party's approval if we attach some other conditions to the transaction?" Tao Donglai continued to ask.

"That depends on the conditions. If it is political conditions, I think it is difficult. These Vietnamese don't like Ming people intervening in their internal affairs, and they obviously treat us as Ming people— — You can make a deal, but don’t mix other factors.” Qian Tiandun is not very optimistic about Tao Donglai’s idea.

"It's understandable, after all, they have put in a lot of effort to get rid of Daming's control." Tao Donglai nodded.We must know that in the early 20th century, Vietnam fought for nearly [-] years in order to become independent from the Ming Dynasty, and paid a huge price until the Ming Dynasty gave up its direct jurisdiction over Vietnam in the second year of Ming Xuande.

Tao Donglai murmured: "Forget about the political conditions, even if we raise them, they will be rejected by the other party. What I want to ask is, can we make some attempts in other directions..."

Xie Chun hurriedly asked, "For example?"

"For example, the population we need very much now." Tao Donglai replied.

(End of this chapter)