1627 Rise of the South China Sea

Chapter 307 The Tribute Project
"Hold on carefully!"

Every time Yu Dashan took two or three steps, he couldn't help but turn around and tell the two laborers behind him.He has been working in Victory Port for a year, and this is the first time he has taken on such a dreadful task.

The two workers behind him supported a two-foot-square glass box with a wooden seat, and moved their steps carefully under the watchful eye of Yu Dashan.Of course, with the current plate glass manufacturing technology in Victory Port, such a large piece of glass cannot be produced, so each side is made of several smaller glass plates.The box did not contain gold and silver treasures, but some white paper pieces with small prints on them.But Yu Dashan looked as if he was facing an enemy, for fear that one of the two laborers would accidentally drop the box to the ground.

The pieces of paper in the box are the ballots for this election. It was raining just now, and Ning Qi asked Yu Dashan to put the ballot box in his house first. Now that the weather is fine, he will take it out again and put it in the No. [-] base. outside the gate for other people to vote-of course, the main purpose of this is to allow the naturalized people to observe the voting process.

At first, Yu Dashan didn't understand the significance of the bosses putting such a glass box outside, so he went to Ning Qi specifically for this reason to ask the secret.After learning that the pieces of paper in this box will determine the composition of the next executive committee, Yu Dashan's face turned blue, and he even wanted to decline the task to Ning Qi.

As the most senior naturalized citizen, Yu Dashan is well aware of the status of the executive committee among the Haihan people. Even high-level personnel like Ning Qi must obey the decisions of the executive committee.As for migrants who want to obtain the native place of naturalized people in Shengli Port, the first rule to remember is to obey the orders of the executive committee unconditionally.After obtaining the native place of the naturalized people, they will be subject to brainwashing education consciously arranged by the relevant departments all the time. It is no exaggeration to say that in the minds of most naturalized people, the authority of the executive committee has far exceeded Far surpassed the government of Yazhou.An executive committee member like Ning Qi's status in the hearts of ordinary naturalized people is no less than that of the seldom seen Master Zhizhou in Yazhou City.

Although Yu Dashan didn't quite understand why the good executive committee suddenly had to be re-elected, but since it was the leader's decision, it's good to follow it.After working as a job post for a year, Yu Dashan also knows very well that the reason why an uneducated person like himself can be reused by the executive committee is to ask less and do more and obey the arrangement.

After finally delivering the glass ballot box to the polling office at the door, Yu Dashan finally breathed a sigh of relief.When he was about to leave, someone stopped him: "Uncle Yu!"

Yu Dashan turned his head and saw that this man was wearing a black uniform with a baton around his waist and a copper whistle on his chest. It was the standard security guard's attire.Taking a closer look, it was my acquaintance, my son Yu Xiaobao's good friend Fu Li.

"It's Fuli! Why did you join the security team?" Yu Dashan said, "Wearing this official uniform is really energetic!"

"I wanted to join the militia, but the instructor finally assigned me to the security team." Fu Li smiled helplessly.

The fact that Fu Li wants to join the militia is not a secret in Shengli Port. Many Li people know that the young master of Fushan Cave does not want to take over the position of cave master and wants to join the Haihan militia.Although the relationship between Fushandong and Haihan is very close, due to various considerations, the military and police department has never let go of this.It wasn't until the end of last year that the Li people in Fushandong began to move out of the mountains and settle in areas arranged by the executive committee. The military and police department finally let go and agreed to Fu Li's application to let him enter the training camp.

However, from the very beginning, the Military and Police Department had no intention of letting him join the militia system. This was mainly due to his sensitive identity, and staying in the militia might have some unfavorable effects on the unity of the soldiers of the Li and Miao ethnic groups.In the end, Ning Qi, an outsider, suggested that it would be more suitable for his identity to assign Fuli to the police system and be responsible for maintaining public security in the future.Now Fu Li has received more than two months of professional training, and has now entered the work internship period, and today his task is to guard the ballot box here.

"You have to take care of this box!" Yu Dashan did not forget to tell Fu Li: "This is what Mr. Ning personally ordered!"

Fu Li patted his chest and said: "Don't worry, the security team has held a meeting to talk about this before, I know the seriousness."

Since the previous preparation period lasted more than half a month, those who have the qualifications to vote have basically already determined who to vote for, and basically completed the voting work two days before the opening of voting.However, the ballot boxes are still displayed at the gates of the two bases in Shengli Harbor and Tiandu as usual every day, and the local naturalized people also know that the executive committee is being re-elected through various channels.

On March 28, the other two "Exploration Class" sailboats on the berth of Shengli Port Shipyard also entered the stage of launching and outfitting.The three ships built in this batch are all built according to the standards of warships. The total cost of the ships has exceeded 3 yuan, including the weapon systems to be equipped on the ships.With the addition of the first ship of this class "Explorer", a total of four "Explorer-class" sailing ships will become the first batch of warships after the establishment of the Navy.However, due to the progress of the construction of the latter two ships, it must be too late to complete the outfitting and commissioning of the Navy before the anniversary. At most, they can only serve as vases during the celebration ceremony.

The keels of three more ships have already been laid on the berth in full swing. According to the plan of the Military and Police Department, the first fleet under the Navy will use "Explorer-class" warships as the main force, a total of eight ships, and nearly half of them have been completed so far. construction tasks.Judging from the current speed of shipbuilding, the construction and equipment of eight ships will be completed within this year, so it should not be a big problem to put this fleet into practical use.And these eight "Explorer-class" warships are not the entire fleet. The Military and Police Department hopes to complete the construction of at least two 500-ton large warships named "Explorer-class" by the Ministry of Shipping within this year and install them in the navy. At the same time, it can also equip this fleet with at least four "Explorer-class"-based supply troop carriers.If possible, the Military and Police Department even hopes to build two small-tonnage fast sailing ships that are closer in shape to Western-style clipper ships, and use them as fleet transportation ships.

If this construction plan can be fully implemented, then the navy will have eight "exploration-class" warships, two "exploration-class" warships, four supply troop carriers and two fast transportation ships, a total of 15 ships. Formed a "huge" fleet.However, in order to complete this plan, the required investment is also quite huge. The construction and equipment costs of the ship alone need nearly 1 yuan, which almost reached the average cost of 20 yuan for a ship. The price of the [-] Fuchuan Guangzhou Ship purchased is much lower. The cost of building this fleet is almost enough for the Ministry of Shipping to purchase [-] Chinese sailboats.If you count the required sailors, crew, combatants, etc., the initial investment of the entire fleet will be about [-] yuan.

It is precisely because the budget is too large that the shipbuilding plan submitted by the Military and Police Department has been stuck in the Executive Committee and has not been approved.Yan Chujie jumped up and down for several months, but in the end he only got the budget for eight "Explorer-class" warships. As for the 500-ton "Explorer-class", the executive committee only agreed to build one first to see how the effect is. Decide on the follow-up construction plan.The supply troop carriers and fast transportation ships were all shelved. Some members of the Executive Committee believed that the existing cargo ships could be temporarily used as supply troop carriers during wartime, and the "Speed" and "Lightning" had always been on the ground. To play the role of fast traffic boat, there is no need to build another sailboat with similar function for the time being.

From the perspective of the Military and Police Department, this decision of the Executive Committee is completely an outsider commanding an expert, but the budget is stuck in the hands of the Executive Committee, and it is useless for Yan Chujie to be unwilling.The expedition to Annan in January brought in a lot of money. According to subsequent calculations, the North Vietnamese regime needs to pay Haihan a total of 15 taels of silver. Including their new batch of arms order list, this figure has exceeded 20 taels. .However, the financial situation of the North Vietnamese regime is not very good, so the money cannot be paid in one lump sum. At present, only 12 taels have been paid, and the remaining part needs to be paid in installments within six months.

After the money is in the hands of the Executive Committee, it will first deduct the various expenses in the early stage, as well as the various pensions, rewards, and combat salaries paid to the Military and Police Department after the war, and finally send it to the Military and Police Department In fact, only a little more than half of China's military expenditure is left.Part of this money will be used as the cost of the army's military expansion, and the cost that can be invested in the navy is extremely limited, and it is not enough to implement the large fleet concept of the military and police department.

Of course, apart from the cost of building the ship, the executive committee actually had other reasons for rejecting the fleet plan of the Military and Police Department.After the Annan Expedition ended, the army's military expansion plan was successfully passed. The local army in Victory Port is expected to complete the establishment of a reinforced battalion within this year. Basically, it is based on the expeditionary army and is based on the original militia. With the expansion of some special arms, plus the deployment of non-combatants and reserve soldiers, the total strength of this so-called "reinforced battalion" may be around a thousand.

And if the fleet plan of the Military and Police Department becomes an army, the 700 ships must be equipped with at least 500 people, and the army and navy together will have more than [-] people, and these armed personnel will be carried out as professional soldiers. The equipment and training are not the kind of amateur soldiers of the Ming Dynasty who fought in wars and farmed in their spare time. Considering the current population in the areas controlled by the crossing group, it is indeed extremely stressful to support such a huge military force for a long time.One must know that Daming's garrison on the entire Hainan Island is only composed of eleven thousand households, with a total of more than [-] people, and the ratio of the army to the population of the garrison is less than one-twentieth.After the navy of the crossing group formed a separate army, the ratio of the army to the population of the resident was nearly one-tenth, which was completely in a state of war. This kind of paramilitary social system was not what the executive committee wanted to see.

On March 29, the first phase of the track construction project from Tiandu to Shengli Port was finally completed and opened to traffic.The celebration ceremony was held at the "Shengli Port Station" outside the north gate of Base No. [-]. All executive committee members were present to celebrate another "engineering feat" created by the Ministry of Construction.According to the railway completion ceremony of later generations, Tao Donglai, the head of the Ministry of Construction, personally drove the last spike into the sleeper with a hammer.

After that, the No. [-] steam locomotive, which had already stopped here, began to pressurize slowly. The water vapor pushed the piston, and the cylinder connecting rod under the locomotive moved with the piston, driving the wheel with a diameter of about one foot to rotate slowly.The chimney on the roof of the car spewed smoke upwards rhythmically, making a heart-shattering sound.This almost miraculous scene caused a low cry among the onlookers. If it hadn't been for the simple science popularization to the people beforehand, I am afraid that some people would kneel down and kowtow to the locomotive on the spot.

The Ministry of Industry has invested two steam locomotives on this track, but this is not an original work of this time and space, but one of the materials purchased before crossing.The Ministry of Industry believed that it would be difficult to manufacture a high-quality steam propulsion system suitable for rail transit with the previous processing level, so it added several steam locomotives to the material list.

This small locomotive weighs about 4 tons and can tow carriages with a weight five times that of the locomotive, but its speed is only about 19 to [-] kilometers per hour. "Steam locomotive.It's not that I bought cheating goods, but that the construction quality of this track line can't guarantee that the trains running on it will run too fast.But no one came forward to accuse the Ministry of Construction of stealing and playing tricks during the track construction process, because the matter of rushing to the construction period was clearly put forward by the Executive Committee. Then maybe the quality of the project will indeed improve.

But even if the speed is relatively poor, the executive committee members are basically satisfied. After this track is put into use, the traffic time between the two places can be shortened to about one-third of the original.Especially for the transportation of bulk cargo and overweight items, there is no need to rely on bullock carts to move slowly as before.

The small train dragged three cargo boxes and one passenger car. However, the executive committee members who are used to high-speed trains in later generations did not intend to take this train to enjoy the scenery along the way. The stuffy tank truck only had a few vents, and it was not a pleasant thing to be smoked by soot mixed with water vapor along the way.Therefore, apart from the technicians who drive the train, there are only a few representatives of the naturalized people who have been selected for this trial run. Of course, this is a very high honor for the lucky ones who have been selected. up.

Several passengers excitedly yelled and waved to the onlookers on the slow-moving train, and their pride was beyond words.If it weren't for the large number of security guards on both sides of the track to maintain order, I'm afraid that someone with good intentions would rush to the front and make some dangerous moves.

The completion of the first phase of the project does not mean that the track construction here has come to an end. In fact, the work of building the track has never stopped even during the completion ceremony.The current single-lane traffic only preliminarily solves the rapid traffic problem between the two places, and then a double-lane traffic needs to be built to meet the needs of simultaneous two-way traffic.Of course, the construction period of the double track is not as tight as that of the first phase of the project. The Ministry of Construction can better control the quality of the double track to increase its operation speed.

In addition to the track line, the original road surface needs to be widened again because more than half of the original road surface is occupied by the track, and the road surface will be gradually hardened.In the plan of the executive committee, the industrial production units in the next ten or even 20 years will be concentrated in the Tiandu area, especially the "high-tech" industries like military industry, which must be placed under the nose of the executive committee just do.The traffic conditions between Tiandu Industrial Zone and the port will also be one of the factors affecting the future development of the industrial zone. There will be no bottlenecks in transportation issues.

On March [-], the Guangzhou Office sent a telegram saying that the "Qiong Lianfa" shareholder investigation group had left Guangzhou early that morning.However, due to the relatively large scale of the expedition team this time, each merchant prepared their own ships and formed a fleet, so there was no need for Shengli Port to send a fast sailing boat to the Pearl River Estuary to pick up people.

After the hard work of the Guangzhou Office, the shareholders of "Qiong Lianfa" finally agreed to the inspection invitation, and all businesses sent competent personnel to act as team leaders, and several companies even the big bosses personally dispatched - they also wanted to confirm with their own eyes Let’s take a look at what the so-called Victory Port looks like.

In the afternoon of the same day, the office in the cliff also sent back a telegram, saying that Luo Shengdong and Wei Ping had persuaded Zhang Tongpan and Wang Tongzhi respectively, and they would also be invited to visit Shengli Port at that time.Of course, the Cliff Office will pay these two adults a considerable amount of appearance fees in private for this.As for the top leader in the local area, Master Zhizhou, unfortunately, suffered from the wind and cold, and has been bedridden for many days, so he lost this opportunity to earn extra money by walking acupuncture points.

On March 31, Qian Tiandun led some of his subordinates who had made military exploits in North Vietnam to arrive at Victory Port by boat.In addition to attending the recent public awards ceremony when he comes back this time, Qian Tiandun will also give a keynote report at the Military and Police Department on the combat status and future development plan of the special operations company.In the battles at the beginning of the year, Qian Tiandun and the special warfare company led by Qian Tiandun were the most outstanding in the entire expeditionary force. They have staged successful sabotage battles in the enemy's rear many times, fully proving that the troop training method he proposed before and the The combat system has certain feasibility.How to learn from the previous successful experience, further improve the training methods and troop formation, and achieve the effect of strengthening actual combat capabilities has become one of the next key research projects of the Military and Police Department.

In addition, the North Vietnamese side also sent a very important representative team to Victory Port on the same boat.

(End of this chapter)