1627 Rise of the South China Sea

Chapter 2437
Compared with the negotiations and consultations between countries, the issue of the fate of a local official like Qu Yutong is naturally just a trivial matter.Tao Donglai had previously assured Qu Yutong that he would find an opportunity to mention the matter of Ningbo during the consultation with the high-level officials of Ming Dynasty, and try to keep his official position.Of course, if it weren't for Shi Diwen's relationship, even if Qu Yutong came to ask for help, Tao Donglai might not have taken the initiative to take the matter down, which could be regarded as giving Shi Diwen face.

"There is also the joint military exercise you are preparing. Don't be in a hurry to cancel it. When I have news of my contact with the high-level officials of Daming in the north, maybe such a military exercise will be needed to consolidate the effect." Tao Donglai looked at it. Shi Diwen said: "Do you understand what I mean?"

"Understood! I will arrange in advance and make preparations." Shi Diwen nodded in response.

When this joint military exercise is chosen to be held, the effect it will achieve may be completely different.If the military exercise is held before the high-level meeting between the two sides, it is probably a gamble that the imperial court will give up its intervention in Ningbo.If he lost the bet, not to mention whether Qu Yutong's official position could be kept, even the military leaders of the various guards who participated in this matter would most likely be implicated and lose their black hats.

But if it is after the high-level meeting between the two sides, both parties have notified each other of the interests that need to be protected, which naturally includes Ningbo.At this time, Ningbo will hold a joint military exercise again. It is undoubtedly Haihan's use of this to show his influence in this area. Negatively affected.

Tao Donglai continued: "I'm leaving tomorrow. There are still some unfinished business here. Let's deal with it when I come back from the north."

Shi Diwen said with a smile: "Then when you come back, I will make good arrangements to welcome you to celebrate. Although Zhoushan is a small place, there are everything you can eat and play here."

Tao Donglai was in a hurry to pass through Zhoushan this time, and because the itinerary was kept secret, he did not arrange activities to inspect the local civil affairs and trade conditions in Zhoushan. He stayed for a few days to rest and then continued his journey northward.And Shi Diwen also feels that his reception has not fulfilled the friendship of the landlord. If Tao Donglai can really keep Qu Yutong this time, it will be a great favor to Shi Diwen. It's time to give thanks.

The next day, Tao Donglai and his party left Dinghai Port quietly in the early hours of the morning.In order to keep Tao Donglai's itinerary as secret as possible, Shi Diwen arranged for several warships escorting Tao Donglai's fleet to set off first, and waited for Tao Donglai's fleet to rendezvous in the waters north of Zhoushan Island.Although there is no risk in the waters of Hangzhou Bay, these warships will still escort Tao Donglai and his party to the mouth of the Yangtze River before turning back.

Five days later, Zhifu Island, Fushan County, Shandong Province.

The ice covering the inside and outside of Zhifu Port this past winter has basically melted, and ships entering and leaving here no longer have to risk breaking the ice to dock. The flow of materials and personnel is much faster than in previous months.Dozens of large and small immigrant boats from all over the world lined up on the pier, and nearly a thousand people who were about to board the boats were waiting in line under the command of the Haihan Army.

For the people who are about to leave here by boat, the mood at this time can be described as both excitement and confusion.The Haihan people claim that they will settle in a place with better living conditions and start a new life. They will no longer have to suffer from hunger and worry about being involved in wars all the time. The opportunity, so that they can not help but feel a little sad and uneasy.

If they had a choice, they would of course prefer to return to their hometown in the spring and start a new life, but the problem is that they have lost everything in the past winter, no food, no shelter, no money, no security, and no way to survive. Counting on the relief from the local government, it is difficult to survive even if they return to their hometown.If it weren't for the Haihan people to provide assistance, most of them might have died of hunger and cold before the arrival of spring.

In any case, the Haihan people can at least guarantee their survival. In such a troubled world, what else is more important than living well?

A fleet of ships with the two-color flag of Haihan is slowly sailing into Zhifu Bay, and several of the ships look like Haihan warships.However, this did not cause any commotion. Recently, the Haihan army has been mobilized frequently. From time to time, troops from other places came to reinforce Fushan County and arrived by boat. Every few days, such fleets entered and left Zhifu Port, and the port staff had already arrived. No wonder.

However, the people who came to meet the fleet at the pier today were not of the usual level. Chen Yixin and Hao Wanqing, who are currently in Fushan County, had already arrived ahead of time, and the area around the pier was also under martial law, which was obviously very different from the usual level of attention.

The arrival of Tao Donglai is undoubtedly a shot in the arm for the two of them.Over the past period of time, tens of thousands of refugees have poured in here, putting enormous pressure on Haihan's local governance work. The transportation capacity sent these refugees overseas for resettlement, which barely maintained the relief measures in Fushan County from collapsing due to the excessive refugee population.

The arrival of Tao Donglai symbolizes the support and affirmation of the Executive Committee for the resettlement work in Fushan County. Perhaps he will bring some urgently needed supplies and relief measures to ease the local resettlement pressure.However, the most difficult period has actually passed, and all aspects of work have been on track. As long as Fushan County has sufficient manpower and supplies, it should not be too difficult to deal with the refugee crisis.That's why Chen Yixin and Hao Wanqing were able to find time to come to Zhifu Port to welcome Tao Donglai and his party.

Tao Donglai stepped off the boat steadily along the gangplank, first shook hands with Hao Wanqing, said hard work to each other, and then exchanged military salutes with Chen Yixin.

"It looks stronger than before!" Tao Donglai reached out and patted Chen Yixin's arm: "Do you usually exercise?"

Chen Yixin responded with a smile: "That must be practiced. If you have a poor physique, you can't lead troops to fight!"

In the past few years, Chen Yixin has been stationed in Shandong and Liaodong, and has rarely had the opportunity to return to the south to report on his work, and there are not many opportunities to meet Tao Donglai.However, the Executive Committee has great trust in the generals stationed abroad, and Chen Yixin's overseas performance in recent years has also been remarkable, so Tao Donglai was also very friendly after meeting him, and he did not become unfamiliar because of the short meeting time. .

Tao Donglai pointed to the boat behind him: "This time, I brought you a batch of medicinal materials and tents from Zhoushan, let's organize the unloading!"

"Okay! Let's get started!" Chen Yixin made a gesture, and the secretary behind him, Zeng Xiaowen, understood it, agreed, and immediately went to arrange tasks.

The lodging place that Chen Yixin prepared for Tao Donglai, who came from afar, was not far away. It was in the military base on Zhifu Island, and it only took a few minutes to get there by carriage.

"The environment here is relatively quiet, and the view is wide. You can see Zhifu Port by opening the window. The living facilities are complete. Most of the household items in the house are shipped from Sanya. Living here should be similar to living on the beach in Sanya. "

After arriving at the destination, Chen Yixin enthusiastically introduced the situation of this villa to Tao Donglai.In fact, this is a private property under his name, but he usually spends more time in Majiazhuang. Only occasionally when he has military affairs to deal with here on Zhifu Island, he will come to live for a few days.Compared with other houses on the island, this is undoubtedly the one with the most complete living facilities. Tao Donglai basically does not need to spend time getting used to living here temporarily.

If there is any significant difference, probably only the local temperature is much lower than that in the south.However, the fireplace in this house is always on fire, and the air is very warm. As long as the doors and windows are not opened, it is enough to wear unlined clothes in the house.

Tao Donglai didn't take a break, and soon got back to work. Let Chen Yixin and Hao Wanqing introduce the current local situation first.

"Let me go first." Chen Yixin took the lead and said, "Let me tell you about the refugee resettlement situation in the local area."

Since February, sporadic refugees have entered Fushan County to escape the war.The refugee resettlement measures led by Haihan began to be implemented at that time.In history, this war and subsequent natural disasters caused huge disasters to Shandong. The ensuing refugee wave may last for a long time, and it will affect a very wide area. The refugee population that will appear is also rare in history. Considering these factors, Fushan County’s resettlement measures aimed at accepting tens of thousands of refugees from the beginning, and the corresponding means were to build refugee camps on a large scale, collect various materials, and mobilize overseas transport capacity to catch up with the refugees. Came to Fushan County to transport refugees away.

Chen Yixin once thought that if sufficient sea transportation capacity could be maintained, then Fushan County would send out refugees while receiving refugees, and the number of refugees in the county should be controlled below a certain level, but the actual situation was not as smooth as he expected.After the Qing army withdrew from Shandong, a large number of people who returned to their hometown found that the local area no longer had the materials and food needed for survival, so they had to choose a second escape.And this time, the target of quite a few people is no longer blind, and it is Fushan County, Dengzhou, which claims that no matter how many refugees can be resettled, after all, apart from this place, no government office in any prefecture or county dares to claim that its territory can be unlimited receive refugees.

As a result, Fukuyama County, where the growth rate of refugees was relatively stable in the first two to three months, ushered in the first wave of refugees in the true sense when April approached. The number of refugees entering Fushan County every day was more than 3000.As a result, the checkpoints set up on the official roads to guide and restrict the movement of refugees in the early stage were greatly reduced in effect because of the large number of refugees pouring into the county from all directions.

At the same time, most of the first batch of ships transporting refugees from Zhifu Port are still on their way back. At this time, the number of refugees transported out every day is far less than the refugees flooding into Fushan County, and the local refugee camps are quickly becoming saturated. However, even if the authorities try their best to organize the construction of new refugee camps, they cannot completely alleviate this trend.

Up to now, more than 500 refugee camps have been built in Fushan County. The refugee camps originally designed to accommodate about 3 people often accommodate more than 3000 refugees.The number of refugees currently stranded in the entire county is about 4 to [-], and this number is still increasing day by day. If the trend of fast entry and slow exit cannot be effectively alleviated in the near future, then in about ten days, local shelters The number of refugees in China will exceed [-].

So many refugees gathered in the small Fushan County, and they had to eat several thousand catties of food every day. Although the relevant expenses were borne by the Haihan Treasury, so many materials could not be created out of thin air.Fushan County's local food production is limited, and it can only rely on sea harvests and food shipped from other places to maintain the daily consumption of tens of thousands of people. Once there is a shortage of food, so many refugees will immediately become huge and may explode at any time. Hidden danger.

Considering that the Fukuyama garrison is too small to effectively guarantee social order, the military has successively transferred several batches of troops to Fushan County for reinforcements, and even Wang Tom's baby marines have been transferred here to help.But the arrival of these troops not only enhances the local defense capabilities, but also increases the local material supply burden, and their per capita consumption is much higher than that of refugees who are subject to strict supply restrictions.

"So generally speaking, the current local issues that need to be solved urgently are sea transportation capacity and material supply. Any problem in any of them may cause the frying pan in Fushan County!" Chen Yixin said seriously: "So if it is possible, I suggest that the executive committee can mobilize supplies and transport capacity on a larger scale to resolve the crisis in Fukuyama County."

"On the whole, the root cause is still the problem of insufficient transport capacity." Tao Donglai, as a bystander, quickly saw the problem: "The ships from the south can transport some relief supplies by the way, so as long as there are enough With enough transportation capacity, the urgently needed living materials in the local area will naturally be met, and a group of refugees will be transported away on the return journey, and there will be no empty trips back and forth.”

"That's the reason, but many shipping companies in the south are unwilling to take up this job. I think the executive committee needs to come forward to coordinate." Chen Yixin said regretfully.

"Isn't there a special freight subsidy issued by the civil affairs department for transporting immigrants? Why is the ship company unwilling to accept them?" Tao Donglai asked slightly surprised.

"It's very simple. This errand is too far away. Even if it starts from Zhoushan and goes back and forth, it will take half a month to travel. There is not much money to be made in the freight subsidy, and the ship can only transport refugees and disaster relief supplies, and can't bring anything personal. Goods. If an idle ship can still go for a while, but if the ship with a mission is originally arranged to change its plan to transport refugees to the north, it will not be cost-effective." Chen Yixin explained to him: "Also, transport People are no more than transporting goods. The goods are all dead, and you don’t need to worry about them along the way. But transporting people is not good. You have to be responsible for eating, drinking, and sleeping along the way. Shipping subsidies may also be deducted, and shipping companies are certainly unwilling to take such unnecessary risks.”

(End of this chapter)