1627 Rise of the South China Sea

Chapter 2221
For an overseas colony like Zhoushan, the cultivation of local civil and military officials cannot rely entirely on the transportation from Sanya, and most of the grassroots positions still have to be solved by themselves.The Zhoushan authorities have a mature mechanism for discovering and cultivating relevant talents. However, the population size of the area under its administration is limited. In the long run, it is still necessary to find suitable personnel from among the new immigrants from Daming. Therefore, how to attract qualified and capable people to Zhoushan for development , has become the key to solving this problem, and Shi Diwen has also formulated many special policies for this.

According to Haihan's request, most of the young and strong sent to Zhoushan by Yangzhou salt merchants to receive military training have good personal conditions, even better than the Zhoushan authorities' previous requirements for screening talents from immigrants. Naturally, these people were included in the special investigation objects, and the situation was reported to Shi Diwen.

Generally speaking, the Zhoushan authorities will use economic benefits to attract poor immigrants who hope to find a stable livelihood in Haihan, but it is obviously not very good to use this method to treat the children of these well-off salt merchants Effect.Moreover, their purpose of coming to Haihan is very strong, that is, to learn the skills to go back and save their family, and they may not be willing to stay in Zhoushan after they complete their studies.

Therefore, according to the special situation of these students, Shi Diwen also gave a corresponding plan. On the one hand, he used the curiosity of these students to continuously show them the powerful military strength of Haihan, and let them realize that only by staying in Haihan can they Have the opportunity to get in touch with more advanced military skills and weapons and equipment; on the other hand, through the words and deeds of the active military officers, it shows them that the militia instructors are not the only way out, they can become a military officer of Haihan Kingdom like their predecessors, and will continue to do so in the future Be able to stand out from the crowd and honor your ancestors.

For the children of these salt merchants, in addition to inheriting the family business and continuing to sell salt, it is also a pretty good life goal to break through the class by becoming an official, and it is easier to win the support of the family.However, in order to obtain a position in a mature bureaucratic system like the Ming Dynasty, it is far from enough to rely solely on financial resources. Their background and official connections are hardly comparable to the descendants of officials and officials. , will also touch the invisible ceiling very early.

But Haihan Kingdom, which has not been established for a few years, is different. There are opportunities to break through the class everywhere.Most of the Haihan officials that these students can meet in Zhoushan are Han immigrants who changed their nationality from Ming Dynasty. Their transformation from ordinary people to officials happened in recent years, and the longest time was only ten Only about a year.

And these successful people will continue to use themselves as examples to tell them the great future they can get by playing for Haihan.After listening to these awareness indoctrination, the children of salt merchants will naturally have some ideas. Since staying in Haihan has better development opportunities, why must they return to Yangzhou in the future.

After a few years, I will have an official position in Haihan. Wouldn't it be better to return to my hometown as an official in Haihan?

And Duan Tiancheng, as the chief instructor responsible for training this group of people, of course set an example and used every opportunity to exert influence on these salt merchants' children.Although he is not an officer who specializes in political work, after serving in the army for several years, he is also familiar with these things.

Taking advantage of this opportunity of meeting today, Duan Tiancheng also happened to test Ma Zhengping's attitude. If Ma Zhengping objected to this, then maybe he needed to adjust his strategy again.

However, judging from Ma Zhengping's response, it is obvious that the other party does not reject the possibility of letting the children of salt merchants stay in Haihan to develop in the future, which is undoubtedly good news for Haihan.

Ma Zhengping said: "Whether they want to go back to Daming or stay in Haihan is up to them to decide, and the old man will never interfere. But before that, they still have to go back to Yangzhou, finish what they need to do, and arrive at Haihan." It’s time to decide to stay.”

Duan Tiancheng nodded and said: "Of course, if the situation in Yangzhou does not subside, it must be difficult for those who want to stay in our country to develop."

What Ma Zhengping said was the real purpose of Huizhou salt merchants sending these children to Zhoushan for training. After their [-]-day training, they will return to Yangzhou with the assistance of Haihan to form an armed militia to fight against their old enemy Shanshanyan. The merchants launched an attack.Only after the threat of the Shanxi salt merchants is completely eliminated, can the Anhui salt merchants feel at ease and let these children leave Yangzhou to go out and develop.

With Ma Zhengping's statement, Duan Tiancheng can report the progress to Shi Diwen later, and can start to slowly select the focus of attention among the trained salt merchants.

Although these children are elites carefully selected from the younger generations by various salt merchants, there are still differences in qualifications.Especially after entering the barracks and starting training, some people with military talents gradually began to stand out.

Dai Yingda's youngest son, Dai Chengrong, is such a talented person. He quickly showed outstanding personal qualities in the training after entering the camp.Whether it is physical condition, adaptability, athletic ability, execution ability, or the learning speed of various military skills, Dai Chengrong has excellent performance.

And his excellent performance naturally quickly won the favor of the instructors, so in addition to daily training, Dai Chengrong will also be called by the instructors to perform various tasks other than training, such as going to the shooting range to help arrange gun targets, helping Duan Tiancheng Walking horses and the like, he also had more opportunities to get in touch with these instructors who might not be a few years older than him.

Dai Chengrong gradually learned about the situation of the Zhoushan garrison through chatting outside the training period.

The main body of the Zhoushan garrison is the East China Sea Fleet. The East China Sea Fleet has been in operation for several years. Most of its troops come from the south, including the coastal areas of Fuzhou and Guangxi, including Hainan Island, and a small amount from the South China Sea such as Annan and Champa. Country of immigration.In the past two years, the number of new immigrants in the Jiangsu and Zhejiang regions has gradually increased, and some have also been added to the establishment of the fleet.

Most of these local soldiers came from ordinary backgrounds, and their conversation and living habits were obviously different from those of rich families like Dai Chengrong who were sent for training.But after Dai Chengrong came into contact with them, he felt that these people were quite kind.

After all, many southern soldiers can only speak Fujian and Cantonese dialects, and it is difficult to have in-depth communication with Dai Chengrong, who speaks Jiangsu and Zhejiang dialects.Most of the soldiers from Jiangsu and Zhejiang liked this young master of Yangzhou who could endure hardships without putting on airs, and was usually generous in his shots. They often invited him to do activities together after training.

After the day's training, Dai Chengrong went back to the dormitory to wash off his sweat, and was about to take a break and go to the cafeteria for dinner. The instructor in charge of his dormitory appeared at the door: "Dai Chengrong, come out!"

Dai Chengrong responded quickly, got up quickly and left the dormitory.

"I'm going out to do some errands later, do you want to go out to get some air?" When there was no one around outside the dormitory, the instructor's expression and tone immediately became relaxed.

Dai Chengrong said: "Instructor Chen, can I go out too?"

The instructor named Chen Xiaoyu nodded and said: "I told my superiors that I can return to the camp before the lights are turned off. However, this matter is a bit out of order. If you go, you will tell the military supply depot to help with the inventory when you come back. Ammunition, don’t show off to your friends, lest others will be dissatisfied.”

Dai Chengrong nodded and said, "Follow the instructor's order! Wait for me to go in first to get something, and I'll come out right away."

Dai Chengrong has been training in this Zhoushan garrison camp for several days, and he has not yet had a chance to step out of the barracks. It would be a lie to say that he does not feel depressed.Dai Chengrong also heard from these instructors that Zhoushan Dinghai Port is very prosperous, but he just got off the boat here and entered the military camp directly, so he had no chance to experience the so-called "the first port in the East China Sea".

Coincidentally, Chen Xiaoyu, who is the instructor, is from Yangzhou Prefecture, and he can be regarded as half a fellow villager.Chen Xiaoyu is only two years older than Dai Chengrong, but his background is much worse than Dai Chengrong's. His family is just an ordinary fisherman on the Yangtze River. His mother died a long time ago, and his father died in a shipwreck a few years ago. In the middle of the river, even the boats for living sank to the bottom of the river.

Chen Xiaoyu lost his livelihood, and later moved to Ningbo, intending to find a job as a sailor to make a living, but when he went to the tooth shop, he was taken to Zhoushan Island in a daze. Under the circumstances, Chen Xiaoyu enlisted in the army for the generous benefits promised by the Haihan Army, and has since become a member of the Haihan Army.

Because he is familiar with water and sailing, Chen Xiaoyu, who has a foundation of professional skills, was selected by the East China Sea Fleet as a sailor for training without any suspense.Although he has not been in the army for too long, he has participated in the Korean campaign in the past year and the Hirado campaign this year, and he can be regarded as a veteran who has experienced the test of war.

Although Chen Xiaoyu is still an ordinary soldier, he was assigned to the army under Duan Tiancheng's subordinates. This time, after Duan Tiancheng took over the task of training the children of salt merchants, he selected several capable men as instructors. Small fish is also one of them.

This Dai Chengrong is smart and quick to learn, and has a lot of emotional intelligence in dealing with people and things. Chen Xiaoyu admires him a lot. He will take him around the camp after training, so that Dai Chengrong can have more opportunities to understand the Haihan Army status.But today's opportunity was not won by Chen Xiaoyu, but by his boss, Duan Tiancheng, who specially made such an arrangement.

The purpose is actually very simple, that is to let Chen Xiaoyu win over Dai Chengrong more, so that even if he does not stay in the Haihan army in the future, he will still lean towards Haihan in terms of position.Of course, it would be the best if Dai Chengrong could take the initiative to choose to play for Haihan.

Chen Xiaoyu is just an ordinary soldier, has no real power in the army, and his background is several ranks behind Dai Chengrong, it is difficult to bring Dai Chengrong any practical benefits, so he can only get closer by calling him a brother.It just so happened that Chen Xiaoyu admired him as an apprentice, so he didn't really try to win him over.

Before leaving the camp, Chen Xiaoyu went to the battalion headquarters to get a document, and then walked out of the barracks with Dai Chengrong.

"Go to the port first to deliver a document, and then find a place to eat and drink along the way! It's rare to come out and take you to eat something good!" Chen Xiaoyu left the barracks and announced his arrangement to Dai Chengrong.

Dai Chengrong naturally wouldn't object when he heard the words, he had long wanted to see if this place was really as prosperous as the rumors said.

The distance from the camp to the military port was not too far, and the two walked there quickly.Xiaoyu led the way to a place with a "Logistics Department" sign, and asked Dai Chengrong to wait outside, and he went in to hand over the documents.

Dai Chengrong was waiting outside, and a few feet away from him, the two flagships of the East China Sea Fleet, the Weisheng and Weibang, were docked.

When he arrived at Dinghai Port that day, Dai Chengrong took a look at the ship from a distance. At that time, he felt that the hulls of the two warships were huge and shocking.At this time, when you stand close and watch, you can fully feel the visual impact brought by the powerful guns. The towering masts and complicated sailing systems on the ship, as well as the densely packed gun ports on the ship's side, all show the strength of these sea beasts. fighting power.No matter who it is, facing such an opponent at sea, it must be difficult to remain optimistic.

Both ships were tied to the iron bollards on the wharf with thick cables, and occasionally sailors got on and off the boat along the gangway, but no one took a second look at Dai Chengrong, who was wearing a gray-blue training uniform.Perhaps in the eyes of these sailors, they have long been accustomed to having this kind of recruit who has just enlisted in the army show a stunned look in front of the Majestic-class battleship.

Dai Chengrong didn't know how long he stared at these two warships until Chen Xiaoyu's voice came from behind: "Are these two warships majestic?"

Dai Chengrong came back to his senses, turned his head and said: "Instructor, are you usually working on this big ship?"

Chen Xiaoyu shook his head slightly and said, "I think so, but it's a pity that the qualifications are not enough. It will take next year at the earliest to be qualified to be on these two ships..."

Dai Chengrong originally wanted to try to see if it was possible for Chen Xiaoyu to take him on board to open his eyes, but hearing what he said, it was obviously impossible.

Chen Xiaoyu continued: "These two warships are the flagships of our East China Sea Fleet. Only the best sailors in the army are qualified to fight for positions on such high-level warships. Being able to serve on them is very important for us sailors." Great honor!"

Dai Chengrong said: "The combat power of these two ships must be extremely powerful!"

Chen Xiaoyu nodded and said: "We went to Hirado, Japan in May, and these two warships were as easy as cutting melons and vegetables against the armed fleet of the Hirado Domain. There was almost no single enemy. If the bombardment hasn’t sunk, it’s considered fatal!”

Dai Chengrong heard the words, and asked a question that almost every Ming person would think of when they saw the Majestic-class warship: "Does the Ming Dynasty have warships that can rival it?"

Chen Xiaoyu smiled and said: "To tell you the truth, I had similar thoughts when I saw these two warships for the first time, but I didn't dare to raise it to the adults. Then one day I suddenly figured it out, If Daming had a warship of comparable strength, how could Zhoushan become the territory of the Haihan Kingdom so easily?"

(End of this chapter)