1627 Rise of the South China Sea

Chapter 353 Changes in Dawanshan Island

The cost of recruiting immigrants by the Ministry of Civil Affairs is almost equal to the military expenditure of militias recruiting recruits, but military expenditure is basically a bottomless pit that can only go in and out, while recruiting immigrants can obtain stable long-term benefits. Therefore, for the application for immigration funds, the Executive Committee It has always been of great support.

Migration from Guangdong to Victory Port, the cost of recruitment channels is far greater than that of North Vietnam.Since the vast majority of North Vietnamese immigrants are war refugees, criminals and even South Vietnamese captives, almost all of them were sold to the crossing group by the North Vietnamese court in disguise in the form of piglets, so basically there is not much cost in the recruitment process. Victory Harbor only needs to send ships to designated places to load people on a regular basis.Guangdong not only needs to build a large immigrant shelter, but also hires manpower to bring food, clothing, medicine and other supplies to go deep into the inland counties of Guangdong to recruit immigrants. The cost of the intermediate link is quite considerable.If not for the participation of some shareholders of "Furuifeng" and "Qiong Lianfa", relying on business relationships to spread the network in various states and counties, it would not be easy to achieve such a large-scale immigration recruitment by the Transit Group itself. action.

But no matter how high the cost is, the executive committee will not stop recruiting immigrants from the outside world through various possible channels.At present, it is the period of rapid development of the Crossing Group. The growth rate of the group's strength is almost equal to the growth rate of the naturalized population, and population growth means the simultaneous growth of productivity, combat effectiveness and economic aggregate.The extent to which the cross-travelers can expand Haihan's power in their lifetime depends to a certain extent on whether the speed of population explosion in the early stage can keep up with the strategic plan of the executive committee.

It is worth mentioning that the Dawanshan Island military-civilian dual-use port was built at the mouth of the Pearl River led by the Military Commission. After several months of operation, there has been unexpected development.

"Your Majesty is the manager of Chenghai Bank in Chaozhou Prefecture. This is the purchase agreement signed with Haihan Office in Guangzhou last month. The payment has been made. This time it is here to load the ship."

A middle-aged man handed over a document to the staff on the wharf, on which there was an agreement on the sale and purchase of goods signed by both parties, stating that delivery and shipment would be made at Wanshan Port, and the signature and official seal.

After carefully checking the delivery records sent by Guangzhou, the staff nodded and said, "Follow me, your Chenghai line's goods are ready and can be shipped immediately."

Climbing up the steps from the pier, about 50 meters away, is a row of nearly five-meter-high masonry structure warehouses.Most of the bricks and stones used to build these warehouses came from nearby Guangzhou, while the cement was shipped from Shengli Port.In addition to storing goods from Shengli Port, the warehouse also has goods shipped to Wanshan Port by other maritime merchants for delivery.

The staff brought the steward of Chenghai Bank to the warehouse door, handed the bill of lading to the warehouse staff, and then signed the registration book to complete the handover of work.The warehouse staff opened the warehouse door, walked in with the steward, pointed to the mountain of goods on the right and said, "Did you see those linen bags with white circles on the outside? Each bag is one hundred catties, and there are five hundred bags in total. It’s from your family, let’s count it as you move it!”

"Thank you." The steward waved his hand, and the porters filed into the warehouse and began to move the goods.

As one of the shareholders of "Qiong Lianfa", Chenghai Line is also the first batch of merchants to enter Wanshan Port and use the transshipment service here.Last month, Chenghai Bank ordered [-] catties of Haihan refined salt through the Guangzhou Office. If the original transaction method was used, Chenghai Bank would have to send a ship to Shengli Port to pick up the goods.However, after the establishment of Wanshan Port, the pick-up location of Chenghai Line was changed from the distant Shengli Port to Wanshan Port at the mouth of the Pearl River, which greatly shortened the transaction time.

At the beginning of planning, the Dawanshan Island stronghold was mainly for military purposes and supplemented by commercial use. Measures such as building cargo spaces and allowing merchant ships to dock were just to win the votes of the business department so that the executive committee could pass the project smoothly.However, when Wanshan Port was put into use, there were unexpectedly many merchant ships who chose to use it as a cargo transfer station, so that the navy had to arrange two "explorer-class" warships to settle in Wanshan Port in advance. Maintain the safety of nearby waters.

Those who are most willing to call at Wanshan Port are the maritime merchants from the coastal area west of the Pearl River Estuary. They used to buy goods from Haihan, either directly to Shengli Port, or go upstream from the Pearl River to Guangzhou City. Haihan products with a large volume and a single model, such as Haihan refined salt, iron farm tools, etc., can already be purchased directly at Wanshan Port for shipment and delivery, saving a lot of time.

And the goods they sell to Shengli Port can also choose to be handed over at Wanshan Port, and the Haihan Merchant Ship will transport them back to Shengli Port—of course, the price will definitely be lowered, after all, the voyage from the Pearl River Estuary to Shengli Port It took more than ten days to go back and forth, and the freight must be discounted.This sale is very cost-effective for both parties. The sea merchants saved a lot of time. In the past, it might take a month to trade with the Haihan people on the way. Now, after changing the delivery location to the Pearl River Estuary, the time will be reduced It has been shortened by nearly half, which means that the trading frequency can be doubled under the same time, and the profits earned will naturally increase greatly.At present, [-]% of the cargo ships of the Ministry of Shipping have completed the transformation of the sail system, and the speed of the ship has nearly doubled compared with before. This has also brought about a decrease in freight costs and an increase in transshipment efficiency. The cost of transshipment goods is at least [-]% lower than in the past.

Of course, not everyone is happy to see Wanshan Port become so lively. For example, Chen Yixin, the current chief military officer of Wanshan Island, is not very satisfied with the situation on the island.

"Tell those merchants that they are not allowed to disembark without permission! Those who have already landed are not allowed to enter and leave the designated commercial dock area!" Chen Yixin angrily issued an order to the orderly: "Those who do not obey the rules will not be allowed to enter the port in the future! You Just tell them exactly what I said!"

"It's okay, it's okay, don't be so angry, they don't know the rules, we can teach them slowly." Li Dou next to him held back a smile and calmly persuaded.

With the arrival of merchant ships from outside, the atmosphere of the military base created by Chen Yixin at the beginning quickly disappeared.After these sea merchants and crews arrived here, they couldn’t help but want to walk around the island, to see the forts under construction on both sides of the harbor, the camp of the Haihan militia stationed on the south side of the island, and some even wanted to go to the top of the mountain. Find out what is the origin of the white buildings that you can see from the sea.However, these places are forbidden military restricted areas, especially the fort and the lookout post on the top of the mountain. Even non-military personnel on the island cannot approach casually, let alone outsiders.

Therefore, between the two attitudes of wanting to see and not being allowed to see, some disputes inevitably occurred. Some maritime sailors inevitably spoke in an ugly way, with a strong sense of ridicule.And Chen Yixin is young and full of vigor, so there is no room for outsiders to gossip and do whatever they want on the island, so he immediately issued a ban, and any outsiders who intend to approach the military restricted area will be arrested and dealt with as spies—if it is not for Li Dou. Persuasion, maybe Chen Yixin ordered the hanging directly.

"Li Dou, don't take this matter too simply." Chen Yixin couldn't see Li Dou's peaceful face, and couldn't help but continued: "These foreign ships come in and out frequently, and the situation on the island If there are pirates who plan to attack in the future, they will definitely send people to the island to investigate the situation first. If we don’t set the rules right now, we will be the ones who will suffer in the future!”

Li Dou nodded and said: "What you said is correct, but there is no need to be so fierce to these merchants and sailors, right? Now there is a company of militia stationed on the island, plus two warships patrolling nearby in turn, which one will not open their eyes?" The pirates dare to come and attack us? If you come too few, you can’t beat us, and if you come too many, the gain is not worth the loss. All the money collected on this island is transported away on time, and there is not much valuable goods to snatch.”

Chen Yixin shook his head again and again and said: "Your view is too one-sided. To be honest, with our current scale, even if we suffer a few setbacks, it will not affect the overall situation of development. I am worried that it is not because someone came to the door, but because of our negligence. Carelessness has caused a loophole in the defense here... Do you understand what the consequences will be? If you can't even defend Wanshan Port well, will the Executive Committee give you and me a chance in the future?"

The expression on Li Dou's face suddenly became serious: "Do you have any inside information?"

Regardless of whether it was the former Military Police Department or the post-split Military Commission, Chen Yixin was the youngest member among them. In addition, he participated in the time-traveling alone, so he was always regarded as the youngest member of the military and enjoyed various preferential treatment. Even the fact that he was able to stand out and serve as the chief military officer of Dawanshan Island at a young age was somewhat due to the favor of the high-level special care.Even Li Dou, the civil officer candidate, was approved by Chen Yixin after recommending it to his superiors, so when Chen Yixin mentioned it, Li Dou immediately became alert.

Although both of them are young, they have been in this group for two years before and after time travel, and they have a certain understanding of the internal power structure. In this group, apart from the high-level executive committee members and production units In addition to technical positions, the development prospect of expatriates is generally better than that of their counterparts stationed in the base camp. This is a fact that everyone has recognized.The speed of promotion will not be too slow for those who can stand alone on the outside, and with the expansion of the power of the time travel group in the future, it is almost inevitable that these people who fight the world outside will become big members of one party.

Although Dawanshan Island is only a pinpoint-sized place on the map, the two young people understand that this is already a good starting point for them. People are waiting to take the place here.And this is exactly what Li Dou was worried about, unlike Chen Yixin, who won the appreciation of the high-level easily, and at the same time, he couldn't afford to lose.

"You don't need any inside information, you can deduce it yourself." Chen Yixin could only shake his head at Li Dou's political sensitivity: "Why did the Executive Committee establish a stronghold in this place?"

"Of course it's because the waters of the Pearl River Estuary are the most important waterway in the southeast of the mainland. Controlling this area is equivalent to controlling a gateway for the entry and exit of mainland products, and holding the throat of the entire Guangdong." Li Dou was still very clear about this matter. Yes, after all, I have participated in several training courses organized by relevant departments before I came here, and I have gained a lot.

"Not only now, even in a few hundred years, this area will still be the key area of ​​southern China!" As a military member, Chen Yixin's understanding of the importance of geographical location is obviously much better than that of Li Dou: "Even if our power expands ten Times, hundreds of times, the waters of the Pearl River Estuary must be in the hands of our own people. What is entrusted with a heavy responsibility? Our current duty is to be entrusted with a heavy responsibility by the Executive Committee! As long as this area is well managed, the Pearl River Estuary will even include The Pearl River Delta may become our defense zone."

"Don't forget that Guangzhou has the Guangzhou Office!" Li Dou couldn't help reminding: "The authority of the Guangzhou Office is much greater than ours."

"The Guangzhou Garrison Office is in charge of politics and business. If the Executive Committee wants to maintain peace with Ming Dynasty, it will not openly garrison troops in Guangzhou City. You see, it is using the banner of 'Golden Shield Security' now, and it is also using people from the Li Family Militia. The Military Commission The target is Hong Kong Island, but it won’t be able to take it for a while. After two years, Hong Kong Island will be taken to establish the Guangdong Military Division. You said that this seat is transferred from the base camp to people who are not familiar with the local situation, or let us A local cadre who knows the way?" Chen Yixin patted Li Dou on the shoulder with a mature face and said: "If you make a mistake now, no matter how big or small, it will kill yourself!"

"But there are also military representatives in the Guangzhou Office, and they are also very familiar with the local situation... By the way, Xiao Liang and Yu Yao seem to be natives of Guangdong. You, a Fujianese, can't be called in front of them. Go to the local cadres." Li Dou obviously did not fully agree with Chen Yixin's statement.

If you want to talk about the degree of reuse, the two military representatives who were sent to Guangzhou in September last year are obviously more important than Chen Yixin. With Xiao Liang as the main and Chen Yixin as the assistant.However, after the war, the Military Commission did not give favoritism to the two of them, and they all received the same third-class personal merit.

Chen Yixin shook his head and said: "Of course the Military Commission trusts them, but their current duties are mainly to protect the Guangzhou Office and promote our arms and military system in the mainland. Lijiazhuang is an emergency, but if you want to talk about the opportunity to go to the battlefield Well, as long as they don't transfer posts, they won't be as many as me. The promotion within the army depends on military achievements after all. Now in the entire Pearl River Delta, only Wanshan Port has the most troops. If there is any military action, the first thing to do is We are here."

"However, there are only 'Eighteen Zhi' left in the surrounding area, and that is not an enemy we can deal with now." Li Dou saw that Chen Yixin became eager to try while talking, and quickly persuaded him to calm down: "Executive Committee The meeting also said, don't take the initiative to provoke the 'Eighteen Zhi' people."

"Don't worry, I'm not that impulsive. I just want you to understand that the importance of our place is not only important to us as a group, but also to our future!" Chen Yixin finally made a speech for himself. A summary.

"I understand, I understand, I'm going to the pier right now, and have a good talk with those merchants. When we get to our land, we must abide by our rules!" Li Dou grabbed his straw hat, and hurried out with a water bottle .

Most of the teams that were working on the island at the beginning have already withdrawn, and only a few plasterers are left to build fortifications at the port.However, the number of permanent residents on the island has not decreased because of this. When the immigrants recruited by the Guangzhou Office in the mainland were transferred to Wanshan Port, a considerable number of people who had been engaged in fishing were retained.As one of the most famous fishing grounds in the South China Sea, Wanshan Port was originally tasked with developing the fishery at the beginning of planning, and the Haihan Militia captured a large number of small offshore vessels during the battle in Hoi An, South Vietnam, which were unbearable as cargo ships. However, it is more than enough as an offshore fishing boat.Today Wanshan Port owns nearly 200 fishing boats of various sizes and nearly [-] fishermen, which is not a small scale.

Although it will take some time for Wanshan Port to be fully completed, just judging from the current development status, its scale can no longer keep up with the speed of development.It not only carries the function of military defense, but also has various responsibilities such as immigration transfer, cargo transfer, and fishery development. However, the narrow Wanshan Port has to undertake so many tasks, and it seems a bit powerless.Even the high-level people who proposed to develop the Wanshan Island stronghold at the beginning probably didn't expect that this place would develop so fast after it was developed.

In late August, Enrique, who was returning from Shengli Port, also made a detour and made a brief inspection to Wanshan Port.Enrique appeared in Wanshan Port only at the invitation of the executive committee, not for the purpose of espionage.Of course, when he entered the port, he still couldn't help but carefully observed the striking Haihan-style fortifications at the north and south ends of the port-everywhere the Haihan people built ports, there seemed to be such iconic fortifications. Even Wanshan Port, a small port hanging in the sea alone, is no exception. Enrique really wants to complain about how much they like fighting.

The purpose of Enrique's visit to Wanshan Port was not to visit the fort, but to meet with Chen Yixin and discuss with him about military cooperation between the two sides.Regarding the matter of hiring artillery instructors from the Portuguese, the executive committee has already discussed with Enrique almost, but since Enrique still needs to report to the council and seek the approval of the council after he returns to Macau, the intermediate needs The time it took was unpredictable, so the Executive Committee did not directly send people to follow up, but instead handed over the matter to Wanshan Port, which is the closest to Macau.If this happens at that time, then Chen Yixin, as the military representative of Haihan Fang, will go to Macau to test the quality of Portuguese mercenaries, so as to avoid spending a lot of money to hire parallel imports.

(End of this chapter)