1627 Rise of the South China Sea

Chapter 323

Compared with the sugarcane planting environment in Guangdong in mainland China, Yalong Bay is actually not an ideal place for planting. According to the estimation of the Ministry of Agriculture, the yield of sugarcane fields here is at most three tons per mu, which is about two-thirds of the sugarcane fields in Guangdong. about.This is not just the difference in yield caused by differences in sugarcane varieties, but mainly due to the influence of geographical environment. Even in the era before crossing, there were similar differences in the yield per mu of sugarcane between Hainan and the mainland.

But for the inspection team, the yield of around [-] jin per mu was enough to excite them, because during this period, the yield per mu of sugarcane producing areas in Guangdong and Guangxi was far from the level of later generations. The yield per mu is about [-] jin.

According to Schneider, there are thousands of acres of sugarcane fields here, and the shareholder representatives can easily estimate that about 600 million catties of sugarcane can be harvested within the year. Three to 40 jin of sucrose should be a relatively safe figure.And this is just the first year's test of the sugar cane industry by the Haihan people. If there is no accident, the Haihan people will definitely increase the sugarcane planting area after the first year's bumper harvest, and regard the sugar industry as a One of the pillar industries in the Yazhou area for development.

In the Ming Dynasty, brown sugar, white sugar, rock sugar and other sugar products produced in China were exported to Japan, Southeast Asia and even Western countries in large quantities. "Tiangong Kaiwu", "Minshu Nanzhi", "Little Knowledge of Physics", "Guangyang Miscellaneous Notes", "Xinghua Fuzhi" and other works have recorded the method of refining white sugar, which shows that China's sugar production at that time prosperity of the industry.Due to the limitations of the means of technology dissemination at that time, white granulated sugar was a high-tech commodity like silk fabrics and porcelain, and it had always been favored by Western businessmen.According to historical records, merchant ships of the British East India Company visited Guangzhou in the tenth year of Chongzhen. Among the supplies purchased there were 13000 dans of white sugar and 500 dans of rock sugar.

Based on what the inspection team has seen and heard in the past few days, it is not difficult for the shareholder representatives to speculate that the intention of the Haihan people is to snatch a part of the sugar export business from the mainland.Although the local planting scale is far from being comparable to that in mainland China, the shareholder representatives believe that Haihan people must have some way to control costs if they dare to make this idea. The biggest competitive advantage of Haihan products is cost. , the price of the goods sold in Victory Harbor will always be a few points lower than those of competitors in the same industry.Although the sugarcane plantation here has just started for less than a year, everyone seems to be able to foresee the bright future of the local sugar industry. It is undoubtedly a very wise choice to invest in this industry at this stage.

Due to the enthusiastic performance of the shareholder representatives, Schneider had to extend the visit time at the sugarcane plantation base, so that the sky was already getting dark, and the shareholder representatives boarded the ship back to the port under the urging.

On April [-]th, the delegation ushered in the last large-scale investigation project of their trip to Shengli Port - the Sanya Inland River Port Development Zone located at the confluence of two rivers west of Shengli Port.This inland port is close to the sea outlet, but due to the relatively narrow sea channel, the harbor is hardly affected by the wind and waves on the sea, so it can be said to be an excellent safe haven.At the beginning of the planning, the executive committee designated this place as a commercial port in the main urban area of ​​Sanya in the future, and it will be developed as the first batch of infrastructure projects in the construction of the main urban area.

The Sanya Inland River Port project is actually not on the project list of "Qiong Lianfa". The reason why the delegation was arranged to investigate here is that the Executive Committee hopes to let these wealthy businessmen understand the local planning status, so as to make a better understanding of the future of Sanya. Development prospects have more confidence.

After the inspection team departed from Shengli Port by boat, they bypassed the Yulin Peninsula and the Luhuitou Peninsula successively, and then arrived at the waterway at the mouth of the Inland River Port.The channel here is more than half narrower than the channel entering Victory Harbor, and the narrowest point is only forty or fifty feet wide.The two catamarans lowered their sails by half, and slowly entered the narrow channel one after the other.

Wang Tom has been traveling with the fleet these two days. On the one hand, he is responsible for the command and security of the fleet, and on the other hand, he also needs to give some brief explanations about the surrounding environment.At this time, Tom Wang took a hand-held loudspeaker and said to the shareholder representatives: "Everyone, please look at the starboard side. We will build a fort-style fortification on the hillside here to guard the channel entering the harbor. In the future, we will berth Ships in this harbor do not need to worry about being attacked from outside."

After passing through the waterway and entering the inland harbor, the shareholder representatives of the inspection team were surprised to find that hundreds of migrant workers were already busy with construction on the bank here, and two or three wooden trestle bridges had even been built on a section of the river bank. Before that, everyone thought that the inland river port mentioned by the Haihan people was just a plan on paper.

In fact, after the end of the Annan Campaign, the Ministry of Construction has already begun to implement the development project of the Sanya Inland River Port.The land passage between Shengli Port and Inland River Port has been opened in early March. It is also planned to lay the railway track between Shengli Fort and Inland River Port within this year, so that the three key points of the rail transit will be Inland River Port, Shengli Port and Tiandu. Regions are connected.During this period, the large-scale development of the Mesopotamia and the migration of immigrants will also be carried out simultaneously. With the operational experience in the development of Shengli Port, the development of the inland river port area will be much faster than before.

Before disembarking from the ship, Schneider was surrounded by shareholder representatives in the middle of the deck.The questions raised by everyone are also very consistent-is the land near the new port sold?How much?If not for sale, can it be rented?

Although Shengli Port has only been developed for one year, due to the limitation of geographical environment, the development potential of Shengli Port as a commercial port is actually very limited. There is a mountain next to the port, and there are few small flat lands at the foot of the mountain. After arriving, the few remaining open spaces in the port business district were also sold out. It can be said that there is no room to expand the business district.The executive committee is also aware of this situation, thus speeding up the development of the new inland port.Compared with Shengli Port, the Lianghe area where the Inland River Port is located has more flat open space for development and utilization, and the sharp-eyed businessmen have obviously discovered this business opportunity, and want to take advantage of this opportunity to enter early. Get a piece of land first to seize the favorable terrain.

Schneider was also a little surprised by the enthusiasm of the inspection team. He originally thought that it would take a lot of talking to convince these people of the bright future of this barren mountain and wilderness, and then they would be willing to spend money to invest here.Who knew that these guys had already seen through everything, and before he started talking about it, they had already expressed their intention to invest in land in this new port area.

"This saves trouble!" Schneider was thinking, while calling all the merchants to go ashore to inspect the surrounding environment.

In the area near the harbor, a special logging team has long been arranged to clean up.According to the plan of the Executive Committee, the bay between the Yulin Peninsula and the Luhuitou Peninsula will become the new factory area of ​​the Shengli Port Shipyard, and several large dry docks will be built in the future.The open space between the north of the shipyard and the inland river port will be used as a dock yard and warehouse area for construction.Of course, rail transit stations are also planned in this area, so that the production of Tiandu Industrial Zone can be conveniently transported to the port for loading.

Soon a shareholder representative asked: "Mr. Shi, have you bought all the land around here now?"

Schneider responded: "As long as it is the land that we take out for development and construction, it must belong to us. As for the land that belongs to the local people, we are also trying to find a way to acquire it. No matter what, the land will not It will affect our development process of this area, and everyone can rest assured about this.”

The Mesopotamia to the north of the harbor will be developed as a future commercial and residential area.The land available to shareholder representatives is also concentrated in this area.As for the plains that are closer to the inland, they are all the territory of the Ministry of Agriculture.At present, the Executive Committee has dispatched several working groups to start activities in Tianya Town, Fenghuang Town and other places, to persuade the local people to sell their land to the Crossing Group.

This errand is definitely not easy to do. In this era, land is regarded as the foundation of life and livelihood by the people. No one will easily sell their own land unless it is absolutely necessary.The working group will definitely encounter many difficulties and even dangers during this period, but the Executive Committee believes that it is better to follow the path of courtesy first and soldiers later, and try not to use force to resolve conflicts over land ownership.The only good news is that there are no large villages and towns in the first-phase development area of ​​the Inner River Port. The nearest town is Fenghuang Town, twenty miles away.Although there are a small number of people living in the local area, because these people are unwilling to pay the land deed tax, the cultivated land they reclaimed has not gone through legal procedures in Yacheng, which also saves a lot of trouble for the crossing group to acquire these lands.

Zhang Tongpan and Wang Tongzhi had returned to Yacheng by boat a day earlier, and they were brought back to Yacheng together with two boxes of silver, which was part of the remuneration for Yazhou officials to handle the land registration procedures for the crossing group.Except for a few landlords, [-]% of the area west of Shengli Port and east of Nanshan Town has been registered under various names by the Crossing Group.It is only a matter of time for the crossing group to obtain the governance right of the Yazhou area in a legal way.

Although it will cost a lot to do so, the Executive Committee believes that if conflicts in the process of land acquisition and development can be effectively avoided, then it is worth spending some money.After all, the cost of large-scale armed demolition will not be small, and the use of force can easily cause the situation to get out of control. This is a situation that needs to be avoided as much as possible for the Executive Committee, which pays great attention to establishing a positive image of the Traversing Group.

Beginning on April [-]th, wealthy merchants from Daming who had completed their inspection trips began to leave Hong Kong and return to the mainland one after another.Of course, some people continued to stay in Victory Port for various reasons, such as a group of military academy students who were selected as elites and came here to learn advanced military theories.

These people are mainly from the "officers and soldiers" of Ming Dynasty under the name of Xu Xinsu in Fujian, the militia of "Fu Ruifeng" Li's family, and the North Vietnamese military.Among them, the people Xu Xinsu sent this time were mainly craftsmen. The content they had to learn basically had nothing to do with military theory, but the knowledge of ordnance maintenance and repair. Responsible for imparting relevant content.

The Li family's militia selected four "platoon leaders" to participate in this advanced training in Shengli Port. This is also the military position they appointed after reforming the militia's organization according to the proposal of Haihan's military adviser.Today's Li Family Militia has completely followed Haihan's approach in its establishment, using squads and platoons as combat units, and even considered whether to join the "instructor", a company-level military position with Haihan characteristics, in order to improve the soldiers' morale. thought level.

The lineup of the North Vietnamese side is much larger, a full 20 people, and a quarter of them are dedicated to learning the maintenance and repair technology of ordnance, and the rest are full-time officers. The commander Zheng Ting was among them.

According to Haihan's military establishment, Zheng Ting's military position is roughly equivalent to the rank of commander of a reinforced battalion, and he is regarded as a new star of the young and strong faction in the North Vietnamese Army.In the Battle of Hengshan, Zheng Ting commanded the new North Vietnamese army who had only received three months of training. He cooperated with the Haihan militia to defeat the South Vietnamese army with a near-perfect performance on the battlefield, and became the first batch of people to go to Victory Port for advanced training. North Vietnamese officer.After he completes his studies and returns to China, he will basically get a promotion and a salary increase. Moreover, as an officer who knows the most about hot weapon warfare in Annan, he will have great hopes of entering the military's top ranks in the future.

Zheng Ting is also well aware of the responsibilities he bears, and has long made up his mind to learn as many skills as possible during the three-month training period.Because he had already received Haihan-style training in Tushan Peninsula for a period of time before this, and fought side by side with the Haihan militia on the battlefield, Zheng Ting thought that this training would not be too much for him. Sexual issues - at least that's what he thought before going to military school.

"Zheng Ting comes out!"

Hearing this order, Zheng Ting returned to reality from the distracted state, quickly took a step forward, and answered loudly.At the banquet yesterday to see off the little prince Zheng Zuo and return to Annan, everyone drank too much, so that he almost couldn't get up this morning to participate in the roll call.

"The assembly horns have already been blown, so you slowly came out to assemble, do you think the military regulations here are all jokes?" The black-faced instructor put his mouth next to Zheng Ting's ear, and sprayed Zheng Ting's entire face with saliva.

Although he didn't like this Haihan officer named Gu Wei, Zheng Ting didn't show any dissatisfaction with his rude behavior because of the soldier's habit of obeying his superiors, and still stood upright to accept his reprimand.Although he didn't show any resistance, Zheng Ting still had some slander about it: "When I was in the Tushan training camp, there was no such thing as a call-call in the morning..."

"For the sake of your first crime, then... run ten laps around the playground." Gu Wei immediately announced his punishment: "Let's go immediately!"

Although Zheng Ting was very reluctant, he had to carry out the order when he was in the barracks, so he followed Gu Wei's order.It's just that he didn't expect that these ten laps were just the beginning. On the first day, he was punished several times for running laps because of trivial matters such as not tidying up the housework, not following the dining rules when eating, and so on.And basically none of the North Vietnamese friends who were in the training class with him were spared.This kind of almost strict management method is something that Zheng Ting has never experienced before in the Tushan training camp.

What made Zheng Ting feel a little dissatisfied was that a group of military officers from the Haihan militia who were also in the training class did not receive any form of punishment. On the contrary, they showed gloating eyes when they were punished.But at the same time, he also had to admit that the military cadets of the Haihan militia did know better than them what military regulations are. The performance of these guys is almost flawless, and there is no reason to punish them at all.

"Your Haihan's military regulations are too strict!" After returning to the barracks after dinner, Zheng Ting finally couldn't help complaining to the Haihan officers and students who lived with him: "Our duty is to go to the battlefield to fight, and the barracks should be kept clean." Make it so clean, you have to listen to orders before moving your chopsticks when you eat, why is it necessary to hold on to these things?"

The cadet closest to him stood up, a short but stocky man with hair cut very short.Zheng Ting noticed that the military merit badge on the chest of his military uniform actually had a third-class personal merit medal and the Annan Battle Commemorative Medal. It can be seen that he should have made contributions in the previous expedition to Annan before he got this opportunity for further training.

"You want to know the reason?" The Haihan military officer pointed at Zheng Ting and then at himself: "That's why your imperial court needs to pay us to help you fight, because you are all amateurs. We are professional soldiers!"

After hearing this, Zheng Ting stood up abruptly, glaring at this rude guy who was half a head shorter than himself.If he hadn't been concerned about military regulations, Zheng Ting would have smashed his clenched fists on this annoying face.

"Aren't you convinced? You can't even do such trivial things well, and you can't keep such a simple rule. Do you still expect you to strictly abide by military orders after you go to the battlefield?" The little officer continued to sneer mercilessly: "Punishing you is just to help you develop a good habit of obeying military orders. If you officers can't do well, how can you train your soldiers well after returning to Annan?"

Although Zheng Ting was furious, he had to admit that what the little officer student said made some sense.Compared with the militia officers trained by the Haihan people, the performance of the North Vietnamese soldiers seems to be a little loose.Zheng Ting couldn't help complaining a little bit about why the instructors at the Tushan training camp didn't follow the standards of the Haihan militia to ask the trainees. Training does not include comprehensive management including military regulations. Naturally, the instructors in the training camp will not take the initiative to meddle in their own business.

(End of this chapter)