1627 Rise of the South China Sea

Chapter 221 Trip to Vietnam ([-])

"Population?" Qian Tiandun and Xie Chun asked in unison.It has been two months since they left the base camp, and they are not very clear about the current construction progress of the base camp, and naturally they don't know how big the labor gap that the Transit Group is facing now.

"At present, the speed of immigration in Shengli Port can hardly keep up with our development speed. We must establish new channels for immigration." Tao Donglai briefly explained a series of recent plans.

The first is the saltworks construction plan in Iron Furnace Port. This plan needs to resettle at least 500 people in the local area, and establish a corresponding second saltworks commune for management.The expansion of the production capacity of the salt farm is an important link in the next development plan of the Crossing Group, so the Executive Committee requires all departments to give priority to the implementation of the Iron Furnace Port plan.But no matter how the law is guaranteed, the personnel gap cannot be filled immediately by policies.

The second big labor gap is the business district in Victory Port, which is still in the planning stage.After the construction of the landscape avenue from the port to the No. [-] base, the blank areas on both sides of the avenue will be designated as the future Shengli Port business district.The first investor, "Furuifeng" Commercial Bank, had already delineated the land in August, and reached an investment agreement with the Executive Committee. It will open shops, restaurants and still controversial brothels in the business district.Then another partner, "Anfuhang", not to be outdone, encloses land here and plans to open shops and restaurants.

In addition to these foreign investors, the Executive Committee is also planning to build Haihan Commodity Exhibition and Trade Center, Port Building and other buildings in the business district. These construction projects require a lot of labor to implement.In addition to the ongoing construction of the freight wharf, the labor force required for the Shengli Port construction site is also hundreds of people.

However, the real labor gap is not the largest in the previous two places, but in various production units that urgently need to expand their production scale.Among them, the Tiandu Industrial Zone is the most important. From the Tiandu Iron Mine to the smelting workshop, to the military industry department that produces guns, all need to expand production capacity in the short term.The same situation also occurs in the chemical industry and the glass product workshop under construction. Now there is no need to worry about the products being sold, but they need to worry that the production capacity cannot keep up with the speed of export sales.The number of industrial workers required by these units is not small, and the increase in production capacity will drive the development of a series of other supporting industries, such as building material supply, transportation and so on.According to the estimation of Ning Qi, the director of human resources, with the current planned industrial production capacity, there is still a labor gap of at least 2000 people in terms of industrial workers alone.

This sudden blowout development is actually also affected by fuel. The various industrial units that were originally limited by fuel supply have solved the biggest bottleneck restricting development after the black soil port was put into operation, and the industrial workers who seemed to be saturated The quantity has suddenly become a shortcoming that hinders the legs.Looking at the entire Sanya region, the Transit Group will face a manpower gap of at least [-] people, and it is obvious that it cannot keep up with the needs of local development by relying on the immigration speed of hundreds of people per month.

At present, the main source of immigrants in Shengli Port is the local area of ​​Hainan Island, mainly Yazhou. In order not to form a hostile state with Ming Dynasty, it is inconvenient for the Transit Group to adopt some more radical methods to obtain immigrants, mainly relying on various channels. Solicitation, the speed of obtaining immigrants is still very limited.The executive committee had to set its sights on areas other than Hainan Island, but the Guangdong Office was newly established, and its influence is still very limited. The number of immigrants that can be transported to Shengli Port is not as large as Yazhou. up.

As the second overseas trade partner of Transtrade Group, Vietnam has naturally become another target of the executive committee.Compared with Daming, where the current situation is still relatively calm, Vietnam, which is caught in the civil war, is undoubtedly a better immigration target, and before that, Black Earth Port has successfully resettled thousands of Vietnamese immigrants, and has accumulated certain experience. There are also traces of large-scale cross-sea immigration.Tao Donglai discussed with several other executive committee members before departure, and believed that this opportunity to discuss trade with Vietnam should be seized and a more official immigration cooperation method should be sought.

"That's exchanging people for commodities?" Although Qian Tiandun didn't know exactly what "a more official way of immigration cooperation" was, he could roughly imagine the nature of this kind of transaction.

Tao Donglai nodded, and did not deny Qian Tiandun's way of understanding: "To be precise, we need to legalize the current immigration methods, and let the North Vietnamese regime actively provide us with more immigrants. But we can talk about the specifics." What happens depends on whether the meeting goes well."

"Mr. Tao, with all due respect, I think the difficulty of this matter is not only to let the North Vietnamese side let go of the immigration issue, but also to think about how to deal with this person." Xie Chun suggested: "If you really want to If the population is transported back to Shengli Port on a large scale, then the current arrangement of cargo ship routes may need to be adjusted a lot.”

According to the previous arrangement, the cargo ships traveling between the Black Earth Port and the Victory Port usually go to the coastal areas of Vietnam to load immigrants when they return from the Victory Port. The reason for this is that the ships departing from the Victory Port are often relatively empty. , it is more cost-effective to pick up immigrants, and most of the ships from Heitu Port are fully loaded. Considering the transportation efficiency, there is no need to delay the trip for another day to pick up the few immigrants in Tsing Hoa. Instead, go to Fushuizhou Island, The route on the west coast of Hainan Island goes directly to Victory Port.

If an immigration agreement is really reached, then the Ministry of Shipping is bound to make adjustments to the existing shipping routes, and may even need to arrange special flights to pick up people along the coast of Vietnam, and such changes must be arranged in advance to avoid This caused confusion in the arrangement of cargo ships.

Tao Donglai said: "The matter you mentioned is already being arranged. The newly purchased ship in Guangzhou will be slightly refitted after returning to Shengli Port, and it will be specially used to transport immigrants. By the end of the year, Qiongzhou Fucheng will return Two new ships we ordered before were delivered, and three special ships will run this route, and each ship can run at least three times a month, and if all goes well, at least 2000 people can be transported back from here every month.”

If Vietnam can be used to supplement the current labor gap, it will undoubtedly greatly accelerate the development speed of the Transit Group.Of course, it’s not that no one has raised concerns about this. After all, if Vietnamese immigrants are to be introduced on a large scale, it will inevitably change the proportion of population sources in the areas controlled by the Crossing Group, and this change may cause anxiety among the local people.After all, hundreds of people can be easily dispersed and resettled in various places, but if thousands of people come in a short period of time, they will face many problems in resettlement.

But in the end, the urgent demand for manpower still prevailed. After all, problems would only happen after the introduction of immigrants, and if the labor shortage was not resolved as soon as possible, problems would soon arise.As for the proportion of population origin that some people are worried about, the Executive Committee believes that with the gradual expansion of the control area in the future, it is entirely possible to gradually dilute the immigrants from Vietnam. The way Vietnam introduces immigrants is only an expedient measure in the early stage of entrepreneurship.

In fact, Tao Donglai and other limited people have more ideas about the use of non-Chinese immigrants, but at present, these ideas are only a long-term vision, and there is no need to rush to put them forward at the executive committee.

Qian Tiandun is more concerned about the arms deal: "Tomorrow we will negotiate with the Vietnamese, and we may need to do some weapon demonstrations. After all, the Vietnamese army has not yet started to equip hot weapons such as guns and artillery."

Tom Wang smiled and said: "Don't worry, people have been arranged to set up shooting ranges and build targets on the island early this morning. The militiamen brought this time are all carefully selected experts, and they will be given to the Vietnamese tomorrow. Let's see what is the way of fighting in the era of hot weapons."

"However, the Vietnamese have never used firearms on the battlefield before. I'm afraid this deal can't just be sold. The other party may ask us to help train firearms troops." Qian Tiandun added.

"Don't worry, even if the other party doesn't talk about it, we will take the initiative to bring it up." Tao Donglai said with a smile: "I will hand over the staffing of the military adviser to Heitugang."

Qian Tiandun's eyes lit up, and he immediately understood Tao Donglai's meaning: "This establishment is for the planned army, right?"

Tao Donglai said: "The military and police personnel stationed in Heitu Port are limited, so an additional establishment must be added to complete the after-sales work of weapons. The cost of this military advisory team must be borne by the other party. Armed forces are equipped according to the same standard."

"Great!" Qian Tiandun was very excited when he heard the news: "In this way, all the funding and establishment have been settled!"

Qian Tiandun proposed early on the formation of a special combat force with mountainous forests as the main combat area, but due to various reasons, this proposal has been suppressed by the military and police department.And this time Tao Donglai is going to take advantage of the opportunity of the arms trade with Vietnam to solve the funding and establishment issues that the Military and Police Department has been worried about.Of course, it wasn't the unit under construction that was actually sent to serve as a military adviser, but a part of the militia on board this time.These people will be included in the military and police establishment of Heitu Port in the future, and part of the militia stationed in Heitu Port will be transferred back to Shengli Port in order to fulfill the original rotation system promised by the Executive Committee. And maintain Victory Port to have sufficient military power.Under such circumstances, it seems logical for the Military and Police Department to propose an increase in staffing for the understaffed Heitu Port. Moreover, the personnel and operating expenses are all resolved by the local area itself, and the possibility of being approved by the Executive Committee will be even greater. bigger.

"For the establishment of a company, next April at the latest, when you cross the anniversary of success, you have to let the executive committee see the results." Although Tao Donglai managed to meet Qian Tiandun's proposal, he will not relax the request either. Because this force has illegal significance for the future development of the military power of the Traveling Group.

The natural landforms in the South China Sea region, including Guangdong and Guangxi, are mostly mountains and jungles. This will be one of the main battlefields for the Haihan Army in the future. However, the existing military training system has not shown targeted effects, and the subjects of militia training have also Most of them are defensive battles relying on the existing fortifications. Although there are many mountain people from the Li and Miao ethnic groups in the existing militia in Shengli Port, they are also very suitable for training as field combat troops, but the existing training Directions and limited military budgets have limited this possibility.At present, there is no real field force under the Ministry of Military and Police, and this obviously does not match the general direction of the future expansion of the Traveling Group.Forming an army with combat effectiveness in the wild is an inevitable step for the military and police department in the future, and Qian Tiandun, who was a professional soldier before crossing, undoubtedly saw this clearly earlier than most people.

"Guaranteed to complete the task!" Excited, Qian Tiandun stood at attention involuntarily, and raised his hand to salute Tao Donglai.

From a professional point of view, Qian Tiandun is undoubtedly a qualified soldier. He has no thoughts about fame, wealth, or sex. The purpose of participating in the time travel is only to fulfill his unfulfilled dream in another time and space. ——Become a generation of famous generals, lead the troops to conquer the Quartet, and write your name in history with the victory of the battle.

One of the important reasons why Qian Tiandun was willing to submit to the deployment and come to Heitu Port as a military officer was because he liked the freedom of overseas bases in military development.In Heitu Port, there will be no constraints from the civil service system of the base camp. Qian Tiandun can train the local military and police forces according to his own design.Of course, the difficulty and cost of forming a real combat force are unmatched by the existing militias, so Qian Tiandun still needs to obtain the approval and support of the executive committee to realize his ideals , and now Tao Donglai has promised to provide him with all the conditions he needs. If he still can't get results in half a year, Qian Tiandun feels that he probably doesn't have to be a military officer anymore.

Several people discussed some situations that might arise during the negotiation that night. Tao Donglai also made minor adjustments to the original negotiation plan based on the information provided by Qian Tiandun and Xie Chun.Everything is ready, just waiting for the representative of the other party to appear.

The next day, Tao Donglai and others got up early and inspected the shooting range built on the peninsula yesterday.The munitions loaded on the two cargo ships were also unloaded to the shore, and the artillery used for demonstration was installed on the gun mount and pushed to the shooting range in advance for position calibration.Before the demonstration, all these artillery pieces will be adjusted and set up by the passers-by, so that they can hit the target with one shot during the demonstration.

In addition, the musketeer team composed of militiamen also began to gather the whole team on the beach to practice formation according to the usual drills.The weapons currently equipped by the militia are mainly matchlock guns, which are gradually being replaced by flintlock guns, which are faster and more convenient to fire. It is not suitable to adopt the skirmisher line tactics of the later generations of the army, so the training is still carried out according to the historical lineup and shooting array to ensure sufficient firepower during the battle.

Although the tactic of queuing up and shooting looks very funny in later generations, it is the most practical tactic in this era.Even if the military and police department hides dragons and crouching tigers, but limited to the current level of armaments, it is impossible to use a more optimized battle formation.

However, the historically glorious Spanish phalanx and the contemporary Gustav phalanx did not appear in the militia training of the crossing group, and the militia did not even issue large-scale spears as their main weapons.Because the finalization and production of flintlock guns has greatly increased the firepower density of musketeers, it is suitable to adopt a shallower and tighter horizontal formation than matchlock guns.Moreover, the application of bayonets makes the spearmen used for melee defense insignificant. Based on this alone, the militiamen of the crossing group are half a century ahead of the contemporary Western army-the Swedish commander at this time, Gusta The husband still retained more than one-third of the spearman establishment in the army. It was not until the 17s that the bayonet bayonet was invented by Western countries, thus completely eliminating the spearman establishment from the army.

The use of custom-packed paper tube propellants allows militiamen equipped with flintlock guns to fire four times within one minute. This firing speed combined with horizontal bursts is enough to contain the cavalry at a distance of about 1 meters. Charge, let alone ordinary infantry.Of course, to ensure such a firepower density, Musketeers must undergo long-term and rigorous training. Otherwise, in the face of fierce cavalry troops, quite a few soldiers may be so panicked that they can't even reload their bullets smoothly.And this kind of rigorous training started from the soldiers' daily repeated practice of queue training. Through continuous repetition, the soldiers turned obedience to orders into an instinct, and only after achieving the uniform effect of hundreds or thousands of people can they go to the battlefield. ease-of-use.

The advantage of the time-traveling group's technical reserves in armament technology can quickly complete the research and development and upgrading of weapons. The increase in the range and accuracy of the flintlock gun is a small problem that can be solved in the near future from the processing technology, thus further expanding the development and upgrading of weapons at the same time. The gap in military strength between modern rivals.

At present, the muskets that can be sold by the Time Traveling Group are still only the [-]-style matchlock guns that were initially finalized and mass-produced, but even this kind of weapon that appears to be very primitive in the eyes of the time-traveling people is still a very advanced black technology in this era.Tao Donglai and others firmly believed that after the other party saw the Musketeer's demonstration, they would definitely be unable to resist the desire to buy this weapon.

In the afternoon, the "Flying Speed", which was cruising in the sea south of the Tushan Peninsula, sent back a message through the walkie-talkie, and saw two sailboats heading towards the Tushan Peninsula.According to the information provided by Qian Tiandun in advance, the "Flying Speed" saw the flag representing the identity on the other side's bow, and determined that this was the North Vietnamese caravan that came to participate in the talks.

(End of this chapter)