1627 Rise of the South China Sea

Chapter 250 The new target of the South China Sea
It’s not that timetraversal people like to live in a collective life like a military camp. The ultimate reason why everyone chooses to timetravel is to come to this time and space to be a master. You can live in a deep house compound, but at least you have to share a set of welfare housing for each person.

But the dream is beautiful, but the reality is cruel. Since time travel, all the apartments in the time travel have been in the planning of the Ministry of Construction, but they only exist in the planning.There are so many infrastructure projects that the Ministry of Construction has no manpower to arrange the construction of the cross-apartments, and the executive committee does not seem to be eager to make this a priority project - there are many more urgent projects than building dormitories and apartments , and projects that cannot afford to delay the construction of time, this can be delayed for a while.

Slowly and slowly, more than half a year has passed, and as a result, most of the people are still living in the prefabricated dormitories built at the beginning.Of course, compared to the bamboo and wood structure boat houses that the naturalized people live in, prefabricated houses seem to be good, but this is not a long-term solution.Recently, the number of people reporting living conditions to the executive committee has been increasing, and the executive committee has to re-examine this once-neglected link, and prepares to urge the Ministry of Construction to start the project of crossing the apartments as soon as possible.

Liu Shanxia from the Ministry of Construction also feels very wronged. The Ministry of Construction has only five or six hundred workers. Currently, there are as many as seven or eight large-scale construction projects, such as the recently started Iron Furnace Development Project and North Vietnamese immigration. The isolation and resettlement area, the glass product workshop workshop, the track laying project from the port area to Tiandu, the factory building construction in the Tiandu Industrial Zone, and the nearly completed freight wharf and two construction sites for the reconstruction and expansion of the Shengli Port Salt Field.And there are still a lot of infrastructure projects to be done in the port business district. With so many places under construction at the same time, it can be said that the labor force required for any one of these projects is not a small number.The Ministry of Construction is already stretched for this, and there is no manpower to build apartments.

However, with the arrival of a large number of North Vietnamese immigrants, it is hoped that this labor gap will be improved in the near future.For this reason, Liu Shanxia has already submitted an application to Ning Qi, the director of human resources, hoping to allocate four to five hundred workers from the new immigrants in the two months of November and December. If Ning Qi does not let people go, then the apartment project will also It can only continue to be shelved.

But in the eyes of foreign merchants, the speed of Haihan people's local construction has already belonged to the category of inhumanity.This place has a wide port, a strong fortress, villages and farms, barracks and forts. These merchants from Guangzhou believe that Shengli Port has been under construction for at least two to three years before it can have the current situation, but When they learned that this place was still barren at the beginning of the year, and that the Haihan people had only settled here for more than half a year, they had to marvel at the Haihan people's ability to transform the world.

Moreover, this astonishing construction speed does not seem to have the participation of the Yazhou local government, and it is all a miracle accomplished by the Haihan people with a group of people.The only official institution of the Ming Dynasty in Shengli Port seems to be the Yulin Inspection Department, but the actual influence of the inspection department in the local area is probably close to zero. Careful people have noticed that at the banquet held by the Haihan people for two consecutive days No one from the inspection department showed up, and even the fortress called "Base No. [-]" by the Haihan people never saw anyone from the inspection department come in or out.

As long as anyone pays attention to these details, it is not difficult to come to the conclusion that Li Nai said before: the owner of this place is from Haihan.Everything here is dominated and managed by the Haihan people, and the entire Victory Port is operating according to the will of the Haihan people.

But even so, it will not affect the business activities of the merchants in the local area. Whether the Haihan people or the inspection department has the final say in this place, what does it matter?There is a lot of money to be made, who cares who owns this place—maybe it is better to be managed by Haihan people, so at least there will always be tax-free treatment here, and there will be no various ways Immortals need to be incensed one by one.

After completing the transaction, most merchants chose to set off and return to Guangzhou as soon as possible in order to turn the goods on hand into silver as soon as possible.But there are also several business owners who are not in a hurry to leave, because they, like "Fu Ruifeng", are also keenly aware of the development potential of Shengli Port, and want to make some longer-term investment plans here.To build a commercial store here, the cost is only a few hundred yuan in circulation coupons, plus the annual land rent is not too much, but there are many things that can be done. What new things have come out of Haihan, and they will stay in the local area. The shops in the store can get the information and snap up the information in the first time, and the efficiency is much higher than those of the counterparts who are waiting for the news in Guangzhou.

This day, after Ren Liang completed the land lease procedures for another merchant, he saw that the merchant had no intention of leaving, so Ren Liang took the initiative to ask, "Is there anything else Boss Zhan wants to say?"

The boss Zhan said: "I would like to ask Mr. Ren, if I buy goods from Nanyang dealers and want to sell them locally, how should the cost be calculated?"

Boss Zhan's name is Zhan Gui, a sea merchant in Guangzhou.A sea merchant like Zhan Gui is different from "Furuifeng". The layout of chain stores is just a merchant who uses sea transportation as a means of freight transportation.Zhan Gui brought two boats to Shengli Port this time, and one of them had already returned with the purchased Haihan goods, while he himself stayed here, planning to see what other opportunities to make a fortune here.

Ren Liang explained: "If the materials are purchased by us, of course there is no cost, and everything will be borne by us. If the goods are delivered to other merchants, they must also be registered at the port center, and we will charge both parties one-thousandth The handling fee. If you retail locally, you have to pay commodity tax, depending on what Boss Zhan plans to sell."

"Ivory, rhino horn, and ebony, are you interested in buying them?" Zhan Gui asked.

"Oh?" Ren Liang raised his eyebrows lightly: "Where did Boss Zhan's goods come from?"

"Zhancheng." Zhan Gui didn't intend to hide anything, so he said it directly.

"Boss Zhan has a business relationship with Champa?" Ren Liang asked, thinking of something that Ning Qi had mentioned before.

Zhan Gui said with a smile on his face: "Since I was an adult, I have traveled to Champa with my parents many times to trade, and I have some connections in the local area. If you want to buy local goods, I can come forward to buy for you."

Champa is located in the southeast of the Indochina Peninsula, and it is called Champa Kingdom, but China has always called it Champa.The most famous local products are not the ivory and rhino horns mentioned by Zhan Gui, but the Champa Rice, a food crop introduced to China during the Northern Song Dynasty. This early-maturing and cold-resistant food crop has a very large planting area in the Jiangnan region of China. And it has had a profound impact on the rice farming system in the Yangtze River Basin.The relationship between the Champa Kingdom and China is also relatively complicated. There have been hundreds of years of fighting and peace in history. In the Ming Dynasty, Champa once sent envoys to the court to pay tribute, and Taizu Zhu Yuanzhang issued an imperial edict to reward them. The title of King of Champa was also regarded as a vassal state of Genhong Miaozheng at that time.

However, since Annan's independence in the Ming Dynasty, life in Champa has not been easy. After the establishment of the Houli Dynasty in the early 15th century, military attacks on Champa were immediately launched. After 1470, Le Thanh Zong of the Le Dynasty personally led the army to attack Champa, and it took only three months to break through the Champa Kingdom, and even the then king of Champa was captured.Since then, most of Champa's territory has been incorporated into Annan's territory.Ha Tinh, Nam Quang Binh, Quang Tri, and even the Hue area further south, where the North and South Vietnam are at war, are actually the territory of the former Champa.

In the period around 1627, although Champa had not yet destroyed the country, it had already declined. It was a vassal state of Annan and was controlled by the Nguyen regime in South Vietnam.And the territory it actually controls has become extremely limited, and it also has a control area in the southeast corner of the Indochina Peninsula.

Ning Qi explained at the previous seminar that the current immigration policy towards Vietnam is actually only applicable to the North Vietnam region, because the South Vietnam region has been the territory of the Champa Kingdom for hundreds of years, and the Champaigns used The language and characters of the Chinese people were not introduced from China, and their race is closer to the Malay race of the South China Sea Islands. They have no direct inheritance relationship with the Han culture from head to toe, and they want to assimilate them from the perspective of culture or social system. The difficulty is relatively large, and it is not something that can be completed in a short period of time.

However, the location of Champa is one of the key points in the South China Sea. The people of Champa have also been engaged in maritime transit trade between China and Southeast Asia, India, West Asia and other regions from a very early age. In the South China Sea, it can be said that it is an early navigating country.However, due to its national power and continuous foreign wars, Champa's navigation ability has not been fully developed, but has degraded more and more with the weakening of national power.It is said that during the Wanli period Yazhou often had Champa merchants appearing, but the office in Yazhou stayed in Yazhou for so many months, but it has never seen a single Champa merchant.

And this change in shipping capacity has also caused the price of Champa Products to rise in Daming. For the treasures Zhan Gui mentioned, the current market price has risen by [-]% compared to the Wanli period.

Zhan Gui's calculations were very precise. He transported these high-value commodities from Champa to Shengli Port for trading. It would be best if the Haihan people were willing to buy them. Compared with shipping them back to the mainland, they could save a lot of customs duties. tax.If the Haihan people are not interested, then delivering it to other merchants can still save a large amount of commercial tax money, which is still much more cost-effective than shipping it back to the mainland.As for retailing, Zhan Gui didn't think about it at all-I'm a maritime merchant, not a merchant, and it's better to leave the work of retailing to professionals.

After hearing Zhan Gui's answer, Ren Liang was not in a hurry to discuss the matter further, but immediately sent someone to notify Ning Qi and Tao Donglai to come over quickly, and he himself dragged Zhan Gui to start chatting all over the world. .

About 10 minutes later, Ning Qi and Tao Donglai arrived one after another, and Ren Liang hurriedly repeated what Zhan Gui had mentioned earlier.After listening, Ning Qi asked Zhan Gui: "Boss Zhan, how long ago was the last time you went to Champa?"

Seeing that the two chiefs of the Haihan people were present at the same time, Zhan Gui didn't understand why the Haihan people were so nervous about this matter, so he hurriedly replied honestly: "I went to Champa once in April last year. I planned to do it in the first half of this year. I wanted to go there, but it took me a few months to recover because of illness. This time I am going south, I am going to take a trip to Champa on the way.”

Ning Qi continued to ask: "Then when you went last time, how big was the area under Champa's control?"

"Only Bin Tonglong is left!" Zhan Gui responded.

"Where is Bin Tonglong?" Tao Donglai asked Ning Qi, this kind of relatively partial historical knowledge was not within the scope of his knowledge reserve.

"Bin Tong Long is an ancient country, located in the southern part of the former territory of Champa." Ning Qi said that Tao Donglai and Ren Liang were both at a loss, so he said again: "Probably south of Qui Nhon, Ho Chi Minh This part of Edong."

When Ning Qi said this, they understood that they had been looking at the map of Vietnam a few months ago to investigate the history of Vietnam for the Black Soil Port project.Tao Donglai touched the stubble of his chin and said, "This means that what we did in North Vietnam can be repeated in the South?"

"The Zhan people's desire to restore the country has never stopped for more than a century after the country was subjugated. I think they will be very interested in purchasing a batch of advanced weapons to arm their soldiers." Ning Qi nodded in agreement. Tao Donglai's point of view.

"But didn't we sign an exclusive supply agreement for arms sales with the North?" Ren Liang asked, "Will this cause trouble for future arms sales to North Vietnam?"

"Maybe, but that will be a long time later. The first target of Champa is not the Zheng regime in North Vietnam, but the Nguyen regime in South Vietnam. From a certain point of view, Champa and North Vietnam have the same goal. , that is to eliminate the Ruan family. After that, the two of them will really match up. The process of eliminating the Ruan family may take several years. If we can control the rhythm, they may not be able to separate after decades of fighting. Win or lose." Tao Donglai was very optimistic about this, and pointed at Zhan Gui, who was sitting next to him with a submissive face, and said: "Besides, we don't have to go out to sell foreign arms, and we can support agents when necessary. That makes sense morally."

Of course, the agency is just talking, Tao Donglai has no intention of handing over the most lucrative arms business to Zhan Gui who met for the first time.In the mainland, the arms business was handed over to "Furuifeng" as an agent. Half of the reason was out of helplessness, because the ships of the crossing group can't go to the coast of Fujian at all, and they have nothing to do with the local forces. Standing out can easily attract the attention of pirate groups.But in the face of the poor and weak Champa, Tao Donglai believes that the crossing group still has an advantage. Champa now even has very few merchant ships, and it does not have the strength to attack Victory Port across the sea, so there is no need to worry about them. The Victory Port area is jealous.

Zhan Gui sat at the bottom and listened to the fast conversation of the three Haihan people. He tried very hard to hear what they were talking about, but the three people all used the same northern accent during the conversation, so he could only listen intermittently. Know only a few words.But looking at the serious expressions of these Haihan leaders, Zhan Gui always felt that he seemed to have caused some serious event.

"Boss Zhan, go back and take a rest first. Regarding the cargo transshipment issue between Champa and Victory Port you mentioned, we will inform you of the specific operation method later. In addition, someone will take you to the site to plan the land you rented later. Then I will issue a document for you." Seeing that Zhan Gui was still sitting beside him, Tao Donglai politely persuaded him to leave some things in front of him as an outsider.

After Zhan Gui left, Tao Donglai continued the topic just now and said, "If I remember correctly, there is a good place in the territory of Champa."

"That's right, and we'd better occupy this place as soon as possible, so as to ensure the smooth passage to the Malacca area of ​​the South China Sea in the future." Ning Qi obviously understood where Tao Donglai was talking about.

Only Ren Liang has not figured out the situation: "Did I miss something? Why can't I understand what you are talking about?"

"Take out the map and take a look and you'll know." Tao Donglai tapped on the table lightly.

Ren Liang quickly called up the local satellite map from his laptop, and soon he understood where the "good place" Tao Donglai and Ning Qi said was: "Jinlan Bay?"

"Well, it's Cam Ranh Bay." Tao Donglai affirmed his answer.

Cam Ranh Bay is the most important military port and naval base in southeastern Vietnam in later generations, and its importance is equivalent to that of Yulin Military Port in Sanya.The bay formed by two peninsulas is divided into the outer port of Pingba and the inner port of Cam Ranh, covering an area of ​​more than 60 square kilometers, but the mouth of Cam Ranh Bay is only more than 1000 meters long, and the water in the bay is deep enough to dock an aircraft carrier. It is an excellent deep-water port, and its location is just between the shipping routes of the Pacific Ocean and the Indian Ocean, so its strategic position is very important.In history, France, Russia, Japan, the United States and other countries have used Cam Ranh Bay as a naval base, which shows the importance of this harbor.

"There is no good deep-water port in North Vietnam, so let's not talk about it. We can take advantage of the Tushan Peninsula. But the Cam Ranh Bay in the south cannot be missed. You see, this place is located between Victory Port and The middle section of the Strait of Malacca is a very good midway supply point for ships going south from China to Malacca or Batavia. If we occupy this place, we can control the lifeline of this route! " Ning Qi said excitedly.

"Don't get too excited. It's not easy to occupy this place. The distance is farther than Black Soil Port, and the area of ​​the harbor is much larger than Victory Port. If we want to gain a foothold there, we must first have a strong team." Only the fleet." Tao Donglai poured cold water on Ning Qi who was good at talking about wars on paper at the right time.

(End of this chapter)