1627 Rise of the South China Sea

Chapter 315 Military Exercise Display
"I'm afraid the iron material used for this iron ship will cost one hundred thousand catties!" After confirming that the ship was made of steel from top to bottom, inside and out, someone finally couldn't help but touch a hand that was heavier than his own thigh. The thick anchor chain sighed.

In the past, there were rumors that Haihan's shipbuilding technology was outstanding, but many people didn't believe such rumors—if they were so powerful, why did they buy and rent ships outside?If you can't make it yourself!
But after actually boarding this giant steel ship, no one has the courage to question Haihan's man-made ship technology anymore.To be able to collect a large amount of iron materials, build such a large iron ship, and let it float on the water, the amount of work alone is a miracle.According to the rumors, the Haihan people came across the sea on this kind of iron boat, but the boat had no sails or oars, and everyone didn't understand what kind of magic the Haihan people used to make this extremely heavy iron boat sail on the sea.Looking at the side, there are several smaller iron boats parked on the shore, and you can know that this kind of iron boat is definitely not just one or two built to bluff people, but something that can really be mass-produced.

At that moment, a curious person asked Tao Donglai this question, and Tao Donglai explained with a smile: "This kind of Haihan iron ship needs to consume a certain kind of special oil to start, and this kind of oil is not produced locally, so We will not use these ships for the time being. As for the principle, if you are interested to know, you can choose your own young children to come to Shengli Harbor to enroll in our school, and there will be special courses to teach the relevant content.”

"Then if I want to learn this skill, can I also listen in?" Someone in the crowd asked immediately.

"Of course, we don't have any restrictions on this." Tao Donglai nodded and said: "But if you want to learn this, you have to be patient enough. You must learn the basic courses first, otherwise even if we are willing to teach, students will not understand. .”

"May I ask Mr. Tao, how many years does it take to learn this Haihan shipbuilding technique?" Someone asked persistently.

"The Director Yue of our Shengli Port Shipyard is also here, Xiao Yue, please tell me." Tao Donglai gave the right to speak to professionals.

Yue Zhiyun nodded and said, "I'm a shipbuilder. I studied for about 16 years from the time I entered school to the time I finished my degree. After two years of internship in the shipyard, I'm basically ready to work."

After Yue Zhiyun finished speaking, those who were enthusiastic just now immediately fell silent.If it takes two or three months, maybe there are still people who have the patience to learn it. After all, this thing is also a new thing, and it may come in handy after learning it.If it takes two or three years, then you can also send your subordinates to learn from it, and it doesn't hurt to make long-term investments occasionally.But it takes 16 years of study to become a teacher. Who would have such patience?No wonder Tao Dong said just now that students only accept young children. Such a long learning cycle must start from elementary school. If adults go to study, they will reach retirement age after a few years after completing their studies. It is simply a big pit , Whoever jumps is stupid.

Tao Donglai added with a smile: "Actually, the words of Director Yue are not detailed enough. The first ten years of courses are just to lay the foundation, and it is only the last few years to really learn professional skills. As long as the basic courses are completed, apart from shipbuilding In addition, you can also learn other majors, such as making glass products, soap, matches, etc., or learning the navigation, prospecting, and salt making skills that we Haihan are good at... In short, as long as we have the skills, Both can be taught, but the length of time required to learn is different.”

"You can also learn these things in Victory Port?" The crowd who had just calmed down immediately became excited again.

Haihan's shipbuilding skills, it doesn't matter if you learn it or not. After all, even if you have the skills, you may not be able to build this big iron ship. If you have so much refined iron on hand, who would be crazy to use it to build a ship? .But what Tao Donglai said afterwards are all secret techniques that are not passed on. People who master these techniques generally do not accept apprentices easily, and there is no place to learn them in the market, but as long as they master one of them, That is enough to prosper a family.

"You can learn it, but as I said just now, it will take a long time to learn these skills, so it is best to send some smart children to our school. As for the specific procedures, we will discuss them tomorrow." There is a special briefing session, and Mr. Ning, who is in charge of education in our executive committee, will personally explain the detailed situation to everyone. If you are interested, please come at that time." Tao Donglai calmly appeases the excited crowd.

One of the purposes of establishing the organization "Qiong Lianfa" is to network a group of stakeholders with social influence in Daming.The reason why I chose the group of businessmen instead of officials and literati is because this group has a more direct appeal for interests, unlike officials who have various terms and conditions, and are not as pedantic as literati.Business people are far more realistic about social change and cultural differences than other groups.

As early as when the executive committee was planning the "Qiong Lianfa", it had already worked out various means of attracting shareholders.In addition to keeping these people firmly tied economically, the executive committee also did not forget to start from multiple points at the same time, trying to gradually exert influence on them in the field of culture and education.If these people are directly asked to send their children to study in Shengli Port, they may not be interested in this. After all, if a businessman wants to change his family and improve his social status, he can only do so by relying on his children to take the imperial examinations, and Haihan’s school is obviously Can't teach them relevant test-taking knowledge.After deliberation, the executive committee finally decided to use various advanced production technologies as bait to attract these shareholders to use their family descendants as long-term investments.

The subjects prepared by the Executive Committee are very attractive to the businessmen of Ming Dynasty. If the shareholders enter this trap, the interest relationship between the two parties will become stronger. These shareholders instill more Haihan culture and values.

As for whether doing so would result in the leakage of core secrets after ten years or so, the Executive Committee really wasn't worried at all.First of all, the targets of this education plan are all school-age children. After long-term targeted brainwashing, the three views of these students will definitely be consistent with the interests of the time-traveling group, and many of them will even regard themselves as As a member of the time-traveling group, the possibility of actively leaking secrets is quite low.

Secondly, even if these students graduate after more than ten years and go to areas outside the control of the Traversing Group, it will be difficult to use the skills they have learned locally.Whether it is navigation, prospecting, or salt production, a lot of auxiliary technical equipment is required to realize it, and the production of these things cannot be done anywhere, and it must rely on the technical support provided by the Crossing Group.As for shipbuilding or other industrial products, let alone, the industrialized production method cannot be realized in a short period of time in a social environment where agricultural production dominates the economy. The Crossing Group can achieve this in the specific environment of Victory Port. It is difficult for Ming merchants to copy the technical and environmental conditions they have in other places through imitation.

Taking a step back, even if some products with simple craftsmanship appear copycats due to the outflow of technology, since their industrialization level will be far lower than that of Shengli Port, the production scale and production cost are absolutely impossible to reach Travel through the group's levels.Even if they can copy products of the same quality, they still have to rely on price competition to dominate the market. If they want to compete with the Time Travel Group on industrial products, the scene is really unbearable.

But the wealthy businessmen of Ming Dynasty obviously didn't think about such a long-term thing. What they saw was that the Haihan people were making a lot of money with these unique technologies. Now that the Haihan people are willing to pass on these technologies, they would be fools not to learn.As for the problem that the learning cycle is too long, it seems to be a small detail that can be temporarily ignored in the face of huge benefits.Some people have even made up their minds, should they choose to send a few more children from the clan to study in Shengli Harbor, so that they can learn many secret skills of Haihan separately in the future.

If it wasn't for the fact that there is still a big excitement to watch right now, maybe some people can't wait to get off the boat and talk to Mr. Ning.But as the three trumpets sounded, everyone's attention was drawn back to the nearby river mouth.

As the highlight of this military parade, since ten days ago, a river beach on the east bank of the Tiandu River estuary has been emptied and closed in advance to serve as a battlefield for amphibious military exercises, and sentry towers, fortresses, and city walls have been specially built for this purpose. Simple targets such as city gates and city gates, in order to achieve the best visual effects during the exercise.Looking from the side of the "New World" ship, you can just have a panoramic view of the entire Tiandu River estuary and the east coast.

Under the watchful eyes of many guests watching the ceremony, Tao Donglai picked up the walkie-talkie and issued an order calmly: "I announce that the 1628 spring military exercise will begin now!"

While the guests were still pondering the meaning of "[-]", they saw a fleet of ships from the west side of the harbor sailing quickly towards the landing area with the red flag.The first ones are naturally the powerful "Explorer" warship and its two sister ships, but because of the construction schedule, the latter two ships have no time to install artillery, so they can only be used as troop carriers.Immediately behind them were three refitted troop carriers—in fact, they were ships specially used to transport North Vietnamese immigrants before, and they were loaded with some soldiers and logistics workers who had just participated in the military parade.

Almost all the personnel selected to participate in this landing operation participated in the North Vietnamese Civil War two months ago. China's amphibious landing tactics are basically considered familiar.

Under the watchful eyes of the guests, the lead "Explorer" approached the river bank first, turned sideways and started bombarding several simulated targets with yellow flags on the bank.The next few boats immediately put down their boats, some of which carried infantry and rowed to the shore, and the other immediately built simple pontoon bridges in shallow water near the shore, ready to unload their luggage.

Seeing the shells fired from the "Explorer" smash a wooden fortress into pieces, the two senior Yazhou officials present couldn't help their eyelids twitching, as if they saw the shells hitting the gate of Yacheng. scene.The businessmen who were watching the excitement were very excited. Some even stood up and applauded brazenly like the people watching on the shore, completely forgetting that these soldiers participating in the exercise are not officers and soldiers of the Ming Dynasty at all, but serious folks. Private armed.

After several rounds of shelling, the first batch of commandos in small boats had successfully rushed to the beach. The soldiers who abandoned their boats and landed quickly assembled three horizontal shooting formations under the whistle of the officers to cover the follow-up troops and establish a beachhead.After the simple pontoon bridge was set up, the supply folks immediately landed on the beach with a multifunctional tactical trolley and quickly built a fortification.The entire landing process basically copied the way the Haihan militia fought in North Vietnam, using long-range firepower as a cover to quickly build fortifications and establish a solid position.

As the pontoon bridges were built one after another, materials and personnel began to land continuously.The guests watching the ceremony found out that there were no less than [-] small Haihan artillery pieces in this landing force—they were obviously not launched for display.

Sure enough, after completing the establishment of the beachhead, the five infantry companies that had already formed a shooting formation began to attack the simple city built directly in front. At the same time, the artillery unit also completed the first calibration shooting, causing debris on the city wall to fly horizontally. .

This simulated city is nothing more than a bamboo fence tied on the outside of the wooden frame, and then covered with a layer of loess. It looks decent from a distance, and the visual effect is very good. Even the lead bullets of the flintlock gun Hitting it at close range will also bring up a cloud of smoke and dust.Where the shell hits, even if it rubs the edge, it will make a big gap.Not to mention the small city gate made of thin wood. After several rounds of bang bang, there was nothing but debris left.

More than 20 6-pound guns and more than 400 muskets blasted the city wall less than 30 meters wide and more than three meters high for a long time before stopping at the whistle of the officers. .After the smoke and dust cleared, the guests saw that where the city wall was originally, there was basically only a foot or two of the city wall on the ground. Although they knew that this was just a temporary target, the level of strength must not be comparable to that of the real city wall. Compared with the city wall, this kind of momentum is enough to make everyone feel completely shocked.

Zhang Tongpan and Wang Tongzhi exchanged glances, and at this moment they could finally confirm one thing - if the Haihan people really rebelled and attacked Yacheng, it is estimated that the walls of Yacheng that have not been repaired for decades can last It won't be any better than the target just now.

Fortunately, so far, the Haihan people seem to have no intention of capturing Yacheng by force at all, and local officials don't have to worry about whether they will need to commit suicide when the city is broken.Zhang Tongpan even had an illusion in his mind—although the Haihan people were a little bold, they clearly possessed such powerful force, but they did not use it to coerce Yacheng into agreeing to their various conditions. Very reasonable.

Wang Tongzhi's mood is relatively relaxed - even if you are so capable that you can pierce the sky, I will resign and leave immediately, and what will happen in the future has nothing to do with me. It doesn't matter whether you want to fight Yacheng or where in the future, this is a scapegoat In any case, it will not be buckled on Lao Tzu's back.

The feelings of the two juniors Luo Shengdong and Wei Ping standing behind them are more complicated. On the one hand, they have already half-heartedly chosen to join the Haihan people. The stronger the force of the militia, the more secure their safety will be. After all, Haihan is the backstage force they can really rely on now.On the other hand, as the strength of the Haihan people grows stronger, they also know that it will be more and more difficult for them to get out of this pit. At first, they might have hoped to be able to break away from the control of the Haihan people and continue to be loyal ministers of Ming Dynasty, but now it seems that On the contrary, it is getting farther and farther away from this goal.

After the interview with the Haihan people yesterday, Luo Shengdong has actually begun to realize that his idea of ​​relying on job promotion to get rid of the control of the Haihan people is not realistic. The speed of the Haihan people's power expansion is probably much faster than his promotion .It only took a year, and now the Haihan people just opened their mouths and directly asked for the development rights of the area of ​​nearly a hundred miles from the east of Yacheng to Shengli Port. With the help of the Han people, he jumped two ranks from the hundred generals when he was captured at that time to the thousand generals who are now beyond the Shuizhai establishment. The opportunity is not a goal that can be achieved in the short term.When he reached that height, maybe the Haihan people even took over the entire Qiongzhou Island.

Of course, the most important thing is that Luo Shengdong knows that his promotion path is completely controlled by the Haihan people.No matter whether it is relying on military exploits or bribing your boss, you can't do without the assistance of the Haihan people, and the height you can climb depends on the needs of the Haihan people and what you can do under their command. Worked.Although it is a bit sad to think about it, this is indeed a fact that Luo Shengdong cannot avoid. Even if he wants to regret it, there is no turning back—nearly half of the people in the water village have been replaced by sailors from the Haihan Militia. If he had any half-hearted thoughts, he might be arrested and sent back to Shengli Harbor and thrown into a labor camp before he even started to do anything.

Although a year has passed, Luo Shengdong still vividly remembers the hard days he spent in the labor camp.When returning to Shengli Harbor this time, Luo Shengdong happened to have a chat with Ren Liang about it. There are dozens of times more prisoners in the current labor camp than Luo Shengdong did at that time, but the living conditions are even worse. .A large number of South Vietnamese prisoners of war were transported to Victory Port and put into labor camps as cheap labor. These prisoners who could neither speak Chinese nor look more like South Asian Malays didn’t even have the slightest chance of getting sympathy. The standard was in use, and the casualty rate was very high. Luo Shengdong didn't want to be arrested and sent to a labor camp again because of some unrealistic ideas. He really didn't have the confidence to leave that hell alive for the second time.

(End of this chapter)