1627 Rise of the South China Sea

Chapter 232 Luo Shengdong's Small Abacus

Since time travel, the biggest bottleneck limiting the development speed of the time travel group is population.In order to gain a foothold in the early stage, the original preparatory committee chose a sparsely populated place like Sanya as a base. Being far away from the bustling area did save a lot of trouble for the Crossing Group, but at the same time, the development speed was also limited by the population here.Those infrastructure projects that require a lot of labor are often progressing slowly due to population tension. The executive committee heard the most complaints from the grassroots about the lack of labor.Every time the executive committee comes up with a new business plan, it is not the financial department that needs to be coordinated the most, but the human resources department that Ning Qi is in charge of.

At present, many projects of the Crossing Group have already been planned on paper, but the progress has been slow due to the labor shortage, such as the freight track construction project from Tiandu to Shengli Port, the reconstruction and expansion project of the Salt Field Commune, and the upcoming railway project. The furnace port development project and so on all require a lot of labor.According to the calculation of the human resources department, in order to start these infrastructure projects at the same time, the labor gap is about 3000 people.The immigration agreement reached between Tao Donglai and North Vietnam can be said to have fundamentally alleviated the shortage of local labor, and those projects that have been scheduled for next year are also expected to be completed in the remaining two projects this year. It will be implemented in the middle of the month.

After this inspection, Tao Donglai also proposed to the Executive Committee to adjust the goals and tasks of Heitu Port and the Cliff Office.In the future, the Yazhou Office will gradually simplify various functions such as business, military affairs, and immigration, and gradually become a channel window for external publicity and contact with the local government of Yazhou.As for the Black Earth Port, it is necessary to let go of the management committee and let them gradually start to operate independently, including conducting business activities with North Vietnam and Guangxi on their own.

Of course, the Military and Police Department would not miss this opportunity. Yan Chujie had already got along with Tao Donglai, so he also seized this opportunity to propose a new round of military expansion plan.Since most of the militiamen traveling with Tao Donglai stayed on the Tushan Peninsula this time to undertake the preliminary construction tasks of the North Vietnamese training camp, the base camp needs to expand at least one company to make up for the gap.The population of Heitu Port has exceeded [-], and now it is necessary to increase the establishment of a company to undertake the increasingly heavy security tasks in the area.

The two requests for military expansion proposed by the Military and Police Department did not encounter too much resistance, and passed the vote relatively smoothly. The reason was more due to Tao Donglai's gains from this trip.The total amount of arms orders reached with North Vietnam this time exceeded 7 taels of silver. After excluding manufacturing costs and transportation costs, the gross profit margin was as high as 600%. In addition, there will be a large number of immigrants coming in the future, which can be said to be quite profitable.It is reasonable for the military and police department to take a fraction of the money to expand the militia establishment of the two companies, and even the most demanding executive committee cannot veto this request.What's more, Tao Donglai also specifically stated that the cost of the newly added company in Heitu Port will be borne by the North Vietnamese side in the form of military advisory fees.Since the family does not need to spend money, there is nothing to object to.

Of course, as for the actual nature of the new company in Heitugang, neither Tao Donglai nor Yan Chujie took the initiative to mention it at the executive committee, and they still only used "militiamen" to lead them.They are considering that the establishment of this new company is actually of a certain experimental nature, and it is not appropriate for other executive committee members to have too many expectations about it. In case Qian Tiandun accidentally messes up, the expected training effect cannot be achieved , at least a company of militiamen has been trained for the military and police department, and they will be able to report to the executive committee at that time.

In addition, the expansion of militia training will also be gradually implemented from this month. All adult males aged 40 to [-] among the naturalized civilians will receive no less than three days and no more than seven days of militia training every month.This kind of militia training will not allow ordinary people to learn how to handle guns, and the military and police department does not intend to make any gimmicks such as "all people are soldiers". The training content is mainly military discipline training, supplemented by a small amount of combat skills. To put it bluntly, it is to let these people learn to abide by the army's system, and they can be directly pulled out to be used as logistics and supply troops in wartime.As for combat, it is better to leave it to the increasingly professional full-time soldiers.

After the affairs of the Military and Police Department were completed, the Executive Committee began to focus on the next two major projects.

The first project was preparation for the reception of North Vietnamese immigrants.According to the agreement between Tao Donglai and Zheng Shi, the North Vietnamese side will provide 2000 people to the Transit Group every month in exchange for long-term commodity discounts, and the current immigration capacity of Victory Port is only 800 to [-] people per month. If the preparations are not made in advance, the arrival of a large number of North Vietnamese immigrants in Hong Kong will inevitably cause all kinds of chaos.However, this is not the first time that everyone has done this kind of immigration acceptance work. Everyone has a clear idea of ​​what each department should be responsible for.

Tao Donglai said: "The existing immigrant isolation area needs to be expanded to accommodate more new immigrants and live in isolation for observation. In addition, each unit will allocate new immigrants, so new residences need to be built. Tomorrow I will coordinate with colleagues from the Ministry of Construction to try to start work as soon as possible.”

"As for the sea-going ship, the ship bought by the Guangzhou Office in Guangzhou is already on its way back, and it will probably arrive at the port within this week. At that time, our shipping department will make simple modifications to the ship, and then start shipping it to Vietnam. Immigrants come back. In addition, Qiongzhou Prefecture will deliver two ships to us in November, which can be temporarily used as immigration ships. There are three dedicated Dafu boats as a guarantee, and 2000 people only need to travel twice a month to load them. "Yue Zhiyun expressed his position on behalf of the Ministry of Shipping.

"I should be the one with the most pressure." Ning Qi said, "Thousands of people will be burdened with food, clothing, housing and transportation every month. Housing and transportation are in charge of your two departments. You have to rely on the civil affairs department for clothing and food." The food is okay. Our current food reserves are sufficient, but clothes are a hassle. Seventy percent of the local fabrics produced in Yazhou are now covered by us. This is not enough. We have to import fabrics from Qiongzhou or even Guangzhou. OK. Besides, there are not enough tailors, so it may be too late to distribute ready-made clothes to new immigrants."

Tao Donglai nodded to express his understanding: "This can only be done with the best possible effort. If it is not possible, contact the Guangzhou Office and let them order a batch of ready-made clothes in Guangzhou. Anyway, it is just labor insurance clothing, and there is no need to pay attention to any style or fabric. Durability is enough. Let's talk about the second thing, how is the preparation work for Ironforge Port going?"

Ning Qi said: "The project of Iron Furnace Port is in charge of the project team led by Anxi, but he always returns to the Saltworks Commune at night, and he won't be able to see anyone until tomorrow morning at the earliest."

Tao Donglai said: "The project of Iron Furnace Port must be speeded up. After the immigrants from North Vietnam come, they should be resettled as much as possible. The original plan of Iron Furnace Port was to resettle 500 people, but now our immigration source is guaranteed. I think this number can be expanded appropriately.”

Yan Chujie continued: "How nice the people are, when the time comes to train a militia over there, we don't have to worry about the Ming Dynasty garrison in the direction of Lingshui."

"Old Yan, you are just trying to expand your staff?" Ning Qi said with a smile: "How many people are there in Lingshui? Do you think we don't know? Last time Luo Shengdong came over, I asked him specifically, and he said where Although there is an establishment of one thousand households, more than half of the vacancies are accounted for, and there are actually only more than 300 people, and more than half of them are old and weak. In terms of combat effectiveness, I am afraid it is not as good as the garrison in Yazhou."

"Military defense is to prevent problems before they happen!" Although the real purpose was exposed by Ning Qi, Yan Chujie still counterattacked indifferently: "When Iron Furnace Port is developed, that place will become the east of our control area." Even if you don’t build forts and bunkers, you still need to station some military personnel.”

"The establishment of the militia in Iron Furnace Port can be slowed down a bit, and it won't be too late to settle the immigrants." Tao Donglai ended their discussion: "Our strategy is still based on defense and gradually seeks development. The main body of defense is Victory Port, and there is no need to establish a defense force in advance for Iron Furnace Port."

The next morning, Tao Donglai met with the Iron Furnace Project Preparatory Team in the base.The team is headed by Anxi, who is the only person with experience in salt field construction, and also includes personnel from construction, military police, shipping, agriculture, civil affairs, health, culture and education departments.There have been organizations like this before—the preparatory team for the Black Soil Port project is much larger than this, and almost half of the executive committee are members of the team.

Anxi explained the current project preparation progress to Tao Donglai in detail.At present, after three field surveys, the Ministry of Construction has planned the living and production areas in the local area, and has formulated corresponding construction plans, and various required building materials are also being prepared.

The Ministry of Shipping has also formulated a corresponding transportation plan for materials and personnel. Due to the extremely close distance between the two places, sea transportation does not necessarily require as many large ships as the development of the black soil port. Small sailing boats can also be completed, nothing more than running a few more back and forth.And Anxi has another idea--due to the lack of sea power during the development of Heitu Port last time, the Executive Committee once spent money to hire warships from Yazhou Shuizhai to serve as temporary bodyguards in Shengli Port. The situation can also be done in the same way, once again asking the Yazhou mercenaries for help, I believe Luo Shengdong will be very happy.

The Military and Police Department will station one or two platoons of militiamen in the initial stage of the construction of Iron Furnace Port, responsible for local security and defense.However, if Iron Furnace is really a key resettlement area for North Vietnamese immigrants, then the population will definitely increase greatly, and the number of troops stationed in the military and police department will also increase, and the expansion will follow. At the meeting, he said "slow down", but did not deny Yan Chujie's reasons.

And this series of preparatory work does not start until the North Vietnamese immigrants arrive. The plan of the executive committee is that the sooner the better, it is best to be able to directly pull the immigrants from North Vietnam to Iron Furnace Port. Settlement.For Crossing Group, the development of Tielu Port is urgent, because the Guangzhou side has sent back news that the private salt promotion activities of "Furuifeng" in Fuguang area have obviously achieved results, and they hope to start from the beginning of the year The trade volume of salt between the two places has increased to more than 12 catties per month.In view of the fact that the monthly supply plan of [-] catties has been reached with North Vietnam, the current salt production can no longer supply the needs of the two places at the same time, not to mention the salt consumed by the industrial production of the Crossing Group is not a small amount. It has to supply the needs of Luo Shengdong, a private salt dealer, who sells all over Hainan Island.

October 1627, 10, the first day of September in the seventh year of the Ming Dynasty.Just after dawn, a fleet sailed out of Victory Harbor and headed east.This strange fleet included not only Fuchuan and Guangzhou Ships, which are common in the southeast coast, but also several warships of the Ming Dynasty navy. fleet.

This time the colonization fleet really hired warships from the Yazhou water village as Anxi suggested.Luo Shengdong heard that a new salt farm is going to be built here to expand production capacity, so he brought a few ships to Shengli Port the day before—the supply of Haihan refined salt is tight recently, even if he came here in person, he couldn’t As before, I picked up the goods casually at three to five thousand catties, but returned to the initial amount of one thousand or two thousand catties.Such a small amount of salt can barely supply Yazhou's needs, and there are still many roads in the north waiting for Luo Shengdong to supply it. He has long been looking forward to the Haihan people to build a new salt farm here.

Luo Shengdong's ties with this side are getting deeper and deeper now, and he himself is a bit "broken", he didn't stay on his own warship at all, but brazenly got involved with "" "Flying Speed" - This time, not only Anxi's preparatory team, but also Tao Donglai and Yan Chujie personally went to the Iron Furnace Port to take command, and these Haihan dignitaries were all staying on the "Flying Speed".And these people on the "Flying Speed" have long been familiar with Luo Shengdong, knowing that this guy has become more than half of the leading party, and there is nothing to guard against him.

As soon as the boat left Yulinjiao, Luo Shengdong was already beside Tao Donglai: "Mr. Tao, can I hold you up for a while?"

Tao Donglai glanced at him sideways, nodded, and walked to the front of the deck.Luo Shengdong hurriedly followed, and asked in a low voice, "Mr. Tao, this time you are going to build a new salt field in the east with great fanfare. Dare I ask, but there is already a solution for the source of labor?"

Luo Shengdong often travels between Shengli Port and Yazhou, so the manpower gap at Shengli Port can't be hidden from his eyes.Tao Donglai gave him a wary look, but didn't answer.Luo Shengdong quickly explained: "I don't have any malicious intentions, and I don't want to inquire about your reality. I just want to say that if your labor force is sufficient, why not just occupy Fenghuang Town, there is a large piece of unowned wasteland there. , if you can turn it into fertile land, it may be enough to feed 8 to [-] people."

Tao Donglai thought that it was not enough for you to be the leading party, and he was planning to sell the owner for glory, so he smiled and said: "If we occupy Fenghuang Town, the Yazhou government will not be dissatisfied?"

Luo Shengdong said disapprovingly: "Why are you dissatisfied? As long as the grain and taxes are paid every year, the government will not care who farms the land and who is the owner of the land! What's more, the registered land in that place is very small. Not much food."

"Oh?" A certain string in Tao Donglai's heart was plucked by these words.The Traveling Group has always considered whether the expansion of the territory will attract dissatisfaction or even hostility from the local government, but it seems to have ignored the possibility that Luo Shengdong said - as long as there is income, recognize the ruling power of Ming Dynasty Well, the local government would not care who is in charge of this place, Haihan is just a landlord in the vast territory of Ming Dynasty, or more precisely, a group of landlords.

According to this way of thinking, even if the Traveling Group occupies all the land outside Fenghuang, Tianya, Nanshan, and even Yazhou City, it is not a crime, as long as it pays taxes as usual and recognizes the authority of the government.

Of course, Crossing Group currently has no plan to develop Phoenix Town. Even if it wants to expand its territory westward, it must give priority to developing the urban area of ​​Sanya in the future, and connect the two river basins-Sanya Port-Shengli Port into one piece.Or just skip Yazhou and go to the west coast to develop Yinggehai and Shilu.In any case, the few towns under Yazhou's rule are not likely to be the priority development targets of the Crossing Group.

Seeing Tao Donglai lost in thought, Luo Shengdong thought that he had persuaded the other party, so he hurriedly continued to persuade: "If you are interested, I can handle the land deed in Yazhou for you."

Tao Dong came to his senses and asked with a smile, "We occupy that place, what benefits can you get?"

Luo Shengdong had dealt with the Haihan people a lot, and he knew that these guys were extremely smart, and they would definitely not be able to hide the truth, so he didn't intend to hide anything, and directly confessed to Tao Donglai: "The area under the jurisdiction of Fenghuang Town Inside, you only need to leave two thousand acres of land to the adults in Yazhou. As for me...as long as this matter is done, the adults will jointly recommend me a title of one thousand."

Tao Donglai was really taken aback by this. The Yazhou government plans to sell the land in Fenghuang Town to the Crossing Group?Isn't this the local government colluding with real estate developers to resell the land? Unexpectedly, officials have learned to play this trick hundreds of years ago!

Luo Shengdong continued to explain in a low voice: "...Master Zhizhou, Lord Tongzhi of Yazhou, Lord Qian Zong of the Weisuo, and Lord He Shen, General He of my water village, will all be home next year. That Phoenix Town is mostly a land of no owner..."

Although Tao Donglai also heard what Luo Shengdong said later, he didn't take it to heart. In fact, based on the limited information at the beginning, Tao Donglai had already guessed the general inside story of this matter.

(End of this chapter)