1627 Rise of the South China Sea

Chapter 326 Development and Demolition ([-])

Regardless of whether there are still uncontrollable risks in the plan to develop Dawanshan Island, a system is a system. Now that this plan has been discussed and approved by the Executive Committee, it will naturally enter the implementation stage.

Although the two departments, the Military Commission and the Ministry of Commerce, put forward the plan, it is far from enough to implement this plan. The departments of civil affairs, shipping, and construction must all participate.How to carry out the infrastructure projects on the island, how many materials need to be transported, how many people, how to arrange the capacity of ships, all of these require coordination among various departments.Therefore, under Tao Donglai's initiative, a "Dawanshan Island Project Development Office" was established to operate this project.

"Qiong Lianfa" who was chosen as a shield was naturally not forgotten. A telegram was sent from the base camp to Guangzhou, and there were clerks there who spent money to go to the Yamen to register "Wanshan Island Warehouse". As long as the problem can be solved by money, It is a trivial matter for the Guangzhou Office and "Qiong Lianfa".As for whether "Qiong Lianfa" built a warehouse or a fort on the island, the gentlemen of the Guangzhou government office were not interested in going out to sea by boat to check it.Of course, it is not in vain that "Qiong Lianfa" takes the blame. After the construction of Dawanshan Island's facilities is completed in the future, "Qiong Lianfa" will have two free warehouses in the local area as a return for its "investment" in the early stage.

In fact, if it weren't for the concern that Dawanshan Island was under the nose of the navy of the Ming army and needed a legal reputation, the military would not want to involve a private organization like "Qiong Lianfa".After all, Dawanshan Island is not a purely commercial development project. After adding commercial factors, it is conceivable that the military's future defense tasks will become much more complicated due to the incoming and outgoing merchant ships.

Although the construction progress proposed by the military in the plan is three months, which is ample time, but two days after the executive committee passed the proposal, the military sent the "Lightning" to the north, and a project led by Tom Wang The team went to Dawanshan Island for field investigation.

The leader of the engineering team is Liu Shanxia, ​​the second in command of the Ministry of Construction, and he is also one of the busiest people in the time travel group.Being able to invite this busy man out was not only due to the military's face, but also Tao Donglai's personal relationship.Liu Shanxia had worked with Tao Donglai for many years before crossing. If Tao Donglai hadn't personally invited him this time, it would be difficult for him to put down a bunch of business at hand and go out to sea with the military to investigate the deserted island.

When the Heitu Port was first developed, Liu Shanxia went to the local area to serve as the commander-in-chief of the infrastructure project, and this achievement also greatly consolidated his position in the Ministry of Construction.Later, the development of Tielu Port, and even the ongoing development of the Sanya Inland River New Port, were all in charge of Liu Shanxia. It can be said that Liu Shanxia's experience in building new settlements is unrivaled in the Crossing Group.

"The last time I went to sea was in October last year. I haven't been on a boat since the development of Iron Furnace Port." Although Liu Shanxia's face was a little pale due to the rough sea conditions, it was still difficult to hide the excitement in his tone. : "It's been a long time since I found this kind of opportunity to come out and breathe!"

"Then just treat this mission as a vacation!" Tom Wang joked as he steered the wheel, "If you're interested, you can go to Guangzhou for a few days after you're done."

"Forget it, if Mr. Tao knows that I have this spare time, he will throw me a bunch of tasks after returning." Liu Shanxia shook his head and said: "Guangzhou or something, let's save it later when I have time, I am just a busy person. Life, I was a hard-working contractor before I crossed over, and I still do the same job as before! Sometimes I wonder what I plan to do after crossing over. If I really want to be a contractor for a lifetime, it would be worse than before Do not follow!"

"Don't be pessimistic. When we establish a country in the future, you will be a... and a... By the way, Minister of the Ministry of Industry! I heard Ning Qi say that you are a senior official of the second rank!" Tom Wang replied with a smile .

"Shangshu doesn't matter. My current official position is not low. The deputy minister of the Ministry of Construction, if the official rank of the Ming Dynasty is calculated, it is probably at the level of the third-rank minister of the Ministry of Industry! It's just that the salary is not in place. With such a big I don’t know when I’ll be able to enjoy the blessings!” Liu Shanxia shook his head and changed the subject: “It’s more practical like you, how comfortable it is to sail a boat! If I don’t get seasick, I would like Change your career to become a sailor."

The "Lightning" encountered bad weather near the Qizhou Islands in the northeast sea of ​​Hainan Island, and the only few islands here were all rocky coasts, which did not have the conditions to dock or avoid wind and waves.For the sake of safety, Wang Tom had to change the original sailing route and turned to the northwest to avoid the stormy sea.

The "Lightning" headed north along the Wailuo waterway on the east side of the Leizhou Peninsula, and turned eastward after arriving at Naozhou Island.The pirate gang Gao Qiaonan was in at the beginning came from Naozhou Island off the coast of Zhanjiang.Considering that there may still be pirates on Naozhou Island, the "Lightning" did not dock here, and sailed all the way to the waters of Yangjiang County, Zhaoqing Prefecture, before finding a relatively secluded sea area to rest for the night.

Due to the temporary change of the voyage route on the way, it took the expedition team one and a half days longer than the original voyage to reach the waters of the Pearl River Estuary.It was not the first time Tom Wang had come to this sea area, so he found the location of the Wanshan Islands almost with ease.

"Dawanshan Island is ahead." Tom Wang handed the binoculars to Liu Shanxia while speaking.

Liu Shanxia took over the telescope and looked over there. The mountain peaks on the island with an altitude of more than 400 meters are just an inconspicuous tip sticking out of the sea level in the telescope. If it wasn’t for Tom Wang’s reminder, it might be easy to ignore it. its existence.

After walking forward for another half an hour, the outline of Dawanshan Island and the nearby Xiaowanshan Island finally became clear. The "Lightning" sailed from west to east, facing this natural safe haven on the west side of Dawanshan Island.This harbor is actually very small, with a depth of less than 500 meters and a width of less than 400 meters. The inside and outside are basically rectangular in width, because the area is too small and there is no narrow harbor entrance like Victory Harbor or Inland River Port to shelter the waves and avoid wind and waves. The effect is not necessarily very good.According to the information obtained by Liu Shanxia, ​​three breakwaters, one north, two south, were specially built in this small harbor in later generations to strengthen the wind shelter effect here. However, to build such breakwaters extending into the sea in this era, the amount of work is really too large Some.

After the "Lightning" sailed into the harbor, it lowered its sails and slowed down, and routinely collected data on the channel and water depth, so that the shipping department could use it to calculate the designed docking capacity of the port terminal.Although the Guangzhou Office has collected some relevant information in this regard in the past six months, Wang Tom believes that the influence of seasonal and tidal changes must be considered, and the more abundant measured data, the better.

After landing, the main work was handed over to the engineering team led by Liu Shanxia, ​​while Wang Tom took a few militiamen into the mountain, intending to visit Dawanding, the commanding height of the island.After the military stronghold is built here in the future, an observation post will inevitably be set up at the commanding heights, and Wang Tom can be regarded as a front stand.

Since the deserted island was uninhabited and there were no predators, the environment was relatively safe. After the two teams agreed on a radio contact time, they started their respective tasks separately.

Judging from the military's plan, on this small harbor coast, infrastructure such as passenger and cargo terminals, warehouses, commercial warehouses, garrison barracks, port fortifications, and people's residences need to be built, and drinking water must also be considered. The needs of water, sewage, transportation and other aspects can be said to be small and complete.It took the engineering team half a day to complete the surveying and mapping of the wharf area.

The Guangzhou Office who got the news also sent Xiao Liang and Yu Yao, who arrived at this harbor by boat in the evening of the same day.Because these two people have been to Dawanshan Island many times, they know the situation here better, so the military also specially dispatched them to assist in the investigation.

The inspection of Dawanshan Island took three full days before it came to an end. Liu Shanxia already had a rough idea of ​​the development plan in his mind, and after returning to Shengli Port, he could sort it out slowly and start making related materials. preparations.Because the location of Dawanshan Island is very close to the mainland, a considerable part of the materials and even the construction personnel do not need to be transported from the base camp. They can be prepared directly in Guangzhou, which can save a lot of trouble in the transportation process. .

However, there is one thing that the omnipotent Guangzhou Office cannot do for you, and that is the garrison on Dawanshan Island.According to the military's plan, at least one company of army troops will be stationed on Dawanshan Island. As for whether to station naval troops, it depends on the speed at which the navy can form an army. The formation of the naval fleet to the Pearl River Estuary stronghold is at least something that will only be possible in the second half of the year.

Militia units are less resistant to being sent to serve overseas than they were at the beginning.First of all, the military has realized the rotation system promised at the beginning, and the troops stationed overseas can return to the mainland for a maximum of six months and a minimum of three months.As for the newly trained militia units in the base camp, one of the military tasks they will inevitably have after they become an army is to station in overseas strongholds for a period of time, which has formed a certain default practice.

Secondly, all militia officers and soldiers stationed overseas can enjoy special allowances issued by the military, up to twice the local service income, and those who have served overseas for many times also enjoy priority in job promotion These measures have also greatly increased the enthusiasm of the militiamen to serve in other places.Therefore, when the military announced internally that it would deploy a certain company to the Pearl River Estuary stronghold, it did not cause too much controversy. Instead, the militiamen who were selected by the company seemed very excited, because even if it was only a three-month stationing period, The special allowance they will receive can be used as military pay for at least a month.If there are additional combat missions during this period, then there will be additional benefits.

Since the end of the Annan Campaign, the militia has realized the benefits of fighting.Although some people died on the battlefield during this process, compared with the results achieved, the casualty rate of the Haihan militia was astonishingly low in this era, almost negligible.The various forms of war dividends obtained after the war are the focus of everyone's attention.After the military announced the transfer order, some people in the military have already begun to speculate whether there will be any more battles to fight next.

Compared with the prosperous Shengli Port area, the Mesopotamia, which is dozens of miles north of Shengli Port, seems to be even more deserted.There were not many residents in this place, not even a large-scale village, only some individual households who came here to open up wasteland by themselves.Since the Haihan people opened a port in Shengli Port a year ago, some people heard that the Haihan people treated the laborers very well, so they moved to Shengli Port one after another, and finally became naturalized people.With a radius of more than ten miles, there were only about 20 scattered families left in the end.Of course, for these people who stayed, the reduction of local residents is not necessarily a bad thing, so that they can occupy more land-even though these lands have not been registered with the Yacheng government, from a legal point of view Not even legal private property.

Since March, the few local residents have slowly felt that their good days are coming to an end. The Haihan people on the side of Shengli Harbor have sent several working groups to advise them to move out of here.Those who are willing to work in Shengli Port will be hired first, and they can also "appropriately" compensate for the expropriated cultivated land.Of course, for those who are not willing to cooperate, the attitude of the Haihan people is not so kind. They directly give a time limit for moving out, and claim that those who do not move after the deadline will bear the consequences.

These scattered people have no ability to fight against the Haihan militia armed to the teeth, and there is no force behind them to support them against the Haihan people, so most of them chose to submit and moved to Shengli Port to join the Haihan people. In the social system controlled by the Han Chinese.There are also very few diehards who do not intend to leave here, and still ignore the warnings of the working group.Apparently they didn't realize that the militias organized by the Hai Han were not just for scaring people.

In the early morning of April 28, a militia unit set off from a temporary camp near the Sanya Inland River Port and marched toward the upper reaches of the Two Rivers.The main force of this militia force is the fourth company of the Shengli Port Independent Battalion, which will be stationed at the Pearl River Estuary in the near future. The company commander is named Chen Yixin, and he is only a few months away from turning 20. He is a relatively young member in the crossing group. , At the same time, he is also the youngest member of the current Military Commission.

Chen Yixin was not a professional soldier before crossing, and he had no real experience of enlisting in the army. He was just a young worker assigned internally after finishing a factory-run technical school in a certain arsenal. But because of the special nature of his unit, Chen Yixin naturally became a local soldier. The reserve militia, and has also received nearly a year of militia training in his spare time.After learning of the news of the Time Travel Group by chance, he actively participated in it. After the interview, he went through the resignation procedures and ran to Guangzhou to join the group with his meager savings of several thousand yuan.At that time, several executive committee members thought that this little guy might be obsessed with reading too many time-traveling novels, but since time-traveling operations were all based on the principle of voluntary participation, Chen Yixin showed an extremely positive attitude. The society had no reason to refuse his joining, so he finally got his wish and stayed to participate in the action.

In terms of professional skills, it is far more suitable for Chen Yixin to go to the mechanical processing department than to enter the military and police system. After all, he has learned professional skills for several years.As for his amateur militia qualifications, compared with his colleagues in the military and police department, he is like a blank sheet of paper. He is also a little transparent in the army. If he goes to the production unit, he has a great chance to become a skilled backbone.

However, Chen Yixin insisted on taking up a job in the military and police department when assigning work internally, even as an ordinary soldier. In the end, the executive committee granted his wish and let him join the military and police department.When the first batch of cadets of the Military and Police Department graduated, Chen Yixin didn't even get a real job as an officer, only an empty rank.It was not until the second batch of students graduated that Chen Yixin was fortunate enough to become a platoon leader—the word "internship" was also hung in front of it, which also shows that the military's senior management lacked sufficient trust in his personal ability.

However, Chen Yixin himself was very calm and did not show any depression or uneasiness, and this kind of calmness that did not match his age finally brought him the opportunity to express himself.During the expedition to Annan, Chen Yixin participated in several battles as a platoon leader on the front line of the battlefield, and relatively well completed the combat tasks of the headquarters.Although he was not honored with personal military merits, his performance was recognized by the upper echelon of the military, and he was promoted to company commander before the anniversary.

Of course, there was some unavoidable element in this promotion, because at that time, the military and police departments were a foregone conclusion. After the division, the number of military personnel was reduced by nearly half immediately, and Wu Zhuo and Xiang Chinan were removed. There are not many technicians with titles who can serve as mid-level and high-level commanders in the army.Although Chen Yixin's qualifications were a bit lacking, his performance after time travel was remarkable, and he basically had nothing to fault, so he was promoted to company commander by the Military Commission.

Less than a month after the promotion, Chen Yixin was assigned a task again, and will lead his company to garrison the Zhujiang Estuary stronghold in the near future.Although this task has certain risks, in Chen Yixin's view, it is another excellent opportunity to make meritorious service.But before that, he first had to complete the task assigned by the executive committee, clearing the area to be developed in the upper reaches of the two river basins in Sanya.

(End of this chapter)