1627 Rise of the South China Sea

Chapter 357 New Customers at Sanya Port

Fighting is fighting for money. The civil war in Annan has lasted for several years. Most of the income of the northern and southern courts has been invested in the battlefield. Even if one side temporarily wins the battlefield, it is difficult to use the victory to achieve results in one fell swoop. Opponents, both sides have been struggling to support the battle.Like the Haihan Militia, they play raids behind enemy lines, directly attack the cities in the rear hinterland, use the method of war support to maintain the cost of the army, and even obtain economic benefits by launching wars. It is impossible for both the North and the South to do this. After all, they do not currently have the sea maneuvering capability like the Haihan Navy.In particular, the South Vietnam area suffered heavy losses twice a year. The previous time the surface troops deployed near the war zone were wiped out by the Haihan militia, and the Haihan militia snatched a large number of civilian ships from their own rear. Now Even the channel for exporting goods has become a problem. It is simply that misfortunes never come singly.

In contrast, the situation in North Vietnam is slightly better. If the North Vietnam court can endure for another year or a half, this powerless situation may change.The Black Earth Port Shipyard is currently continuously producing offshore sailboats with a displacement of about [-] tons. After about a year, the North Vietnamese side may have a small-scale maritime force.At that time, the problem of land and water support operations that had plagued them for a long time can also be effectively resolved. The North Vietnamese Army may even have the opportunity to transport troops from the sea and directly launch an attack on the Hue Province area that lacks the protection of surface forces.

Of course, there is another quicker solution, which is to rent a large ship directly from the Haihan people.Although the North Vietnamese military borrowed a batch of ships from Yongan Port for free this time, most of them were small boats. Short-distance transportation tasks such as crossing the river were no problem, but it was more difficult to complete long-distance troop projection.As for sailboats with a displacement of more than [-] tons, Haihan's side would definitely not provide them free of charge, but when it comes to money, the North Vietnamese military, which was stretched for military expenses, really didn't have much confidence.Even though it has already gained a clear advantage on the battlefield, if the fight continues at the current pace, the military expenditure will still be a huge astronomical figure, and the North Vietnamese court is not even sure whether it will be able to catch up with it before it goes bankrupt Unify South Vietnam.

North Vietnam's lack of military spending due to successive years of war is not unsolvable. Haihan has long proposed a comprehensive cooperation package, but the conditions are unacceptable to the North Vietnamese court.The method proposed by Haihan is actually very simple, that is, let North Vietnam exchange population and land for military aid.

When North Vietnam first dealt with Haihan, they boarded a pirate ship due to unknown circumstances. After being taken away by Haihan people one after another to the land of Heitu Port, Tushan Peninsula and Yongan Port, some smart people in the North Vietnam court finally came to their senses. , Realized that the Haihan people were actually occupying the concession in the name of the concession.And those who built various infrastructures for the Haihan people in these concessions were also war refugees who the North Vietnamese court once considered as burdens.North Vietnam paid for land and population, but what they got in exchange was all kinds of consumables produced by Haihan, but every step of Haihan went aboveboard. Some bilateral agreements were even signed by the North Vietnamese court. No right to complain.

However, when the insightful people in the North Vietnamese court realized Haihan's intentions, they were no longer willing to pay a high price for the Haihan people's help, at least they could no longer transfer the land to the Haihan people in the form of concessions. Especially the key areas in coastal areas.The military strikes suffered by South Vietnam have fully proved the importance of deploying defenses in the coastal areas, and the Haihan people specifically selected the coastal areas to establish concessions in the North Vietnamese area, which made those in power occasionally feel chills on their backs.The population exported to Haihan has also gradually changed from the original war refugees to prisoners and prisoners of war, and gradually reduced the total population export, hoping to use this to slightly limit the expansion speed of the Haihan Concession.

Of course, these methods are still a little immature in the eyes of the Haihan Executive Committee. After all, with 400 years of accumulated historical experience, whether it is political means or economic means, if it is to rectify a country with internal and external troubles like Annan, the Executive Committee has too many people. There are many precedents to learn from.Whether North Vietnam's cooperation is willing or not is not the primary issue in the opinion of the executive committee. Due to military needs, the North Vietnam regime will never turn against itself at this stage, and the biggest difficulty in the expansion of the Traversing Group lies in the initial stage. In the past two to three years, as long as they survive this period of development and get on the right track, it is not impossible to support a regime with a better cooperative attitude to come to power and manage Annan.

Right now, the North Vietnamese court is more eager to resolve the domestic division between North and South, so no matter how difficult it is, they still have to squeeze out resources to exchange Haihan for military aid so that the civil war can continue.Just when the confrontation front between North and South Vietnam moved southward to the Hengshan line, two lucky boats filled with immigrants from Annan arrived at the Sanya New Port, which had not yet been fully completed.

The sailors on the ship rounded their arms and threw the cable onto the trestle bridge. The staff then pulled the cable to the shore and tied it firmly to the mushroom-shaped concrete pier.On the river bank, a platoon of black-clothed policemen is on standby. They will be responsible for taking over the immigrants on the two boats.Standing with the police are personnel from the Ministry of Civil Affairs and the medical team. They will conduct a simple quarantine on the people on board and register and check the demographic information of these immigrants.

After several months of construction in Sanya New Port, the waterway entering and leaving the port has been repaired, and the wharves on the south bank of the inland river have been basically completed. There are more than ten trestle bridges of different lengths and widths, which can be used for ordinary fishing boats to 500-ton large-scale The warship is docked, and the cargo yard behind the wharf is adjacent to Xingang Railway Station. There are four trains running between here and Tiandu every day. The transportation of goods in and out of the port is very convenient.After the construction of this section of the wharf was completed, the executive committee couldn't wait to put it into use.

Due to the increasing number of merchant ships from the mainland, although the harbor of Victory Port is large, the steel fleet docked by the Crossing Group occupies about one-fifth of the area. The military barracks wharf to the east of the harbor is exclusively for warships. Needless to say, on the west side is the dock area to which the Shengli Port Shipyard belongs, so the dock area reserved for ordinary merchant ships and civilian ships is relatively limited.One of the purposes of the executive committee to develop Sanya New Port is to share the pressure of cargo handling in Shengli Port. Therefore, after the opening of the railway from Shengli Port to Sanya New Port, there will be basically no difficulties in land transportation for loading and unloading goods from Sanya New Port. Both Xingang and Tietian Independent Industrial Zone can be interconnected by railway.

At present, the general division of labor between the two ports is that Shengli Port is responsible for docking ships coming from the mainland, while Sanya New Port mainly receives coal ships and immigrant ships regularly coming from the direction of Annan.

Once immigration matters are involved, there are many problems that need to be dealt with at the wharf. Therefore, the Executive Committee established the Sanya Port Management Committee for this purpose. The administrative level is the same as that of the Shengli Port Management Committee. Heitu Port transferred back the local top leader Zhou Hengxing to serve as the director of the management committee. As for the position left by him, Xie Chun, the local maritime affairs chief, took over.

Today Zhou Hengxing personally came to the pier to preside over the reception of the two immigrant ships.In his current capacity, he didn't need to come forward to handle this kind of specific work, but today the immigrants on these two ships are mainly South Vietnamese prisoners of war, and Zhou Hengxing came forward to prevent emergencies during the handover.

Up to now, the use of Annan immigrants by the Executive Committee is still a continuation of the previous policy - after the isolation period, the North Vietnamese immigrants are basically converted to naturalization by force, and then assigned to various immigrant settlements to settle down; while the South Vietnamese prisoners of war are Because of language and race issues, most of them were sent directly to hard labor camps as free labor. These people had to serve at least three years of hard labor before they could get a chance to regain their freedom depending on the degree of their transformation.Of course, in terms of the labor intensity currently arranged in the hard labor camps, it is really hard to say how many of these people can serve a full three years of hard labor.

After the ship docked, the medical team boarded the ship and checked to make sure that there were no epidemics or other diseases on board.Since these two ships are almost all prisoners of war, the degree of medical examination is far less than that of ordinary immigration ships. , then signed and released.

A crew member opened the vent on the deck and shouted to the dark cabin: "It's here, come out, one by one, don't stop! Don't squeeze!"

These prisoners of war were loaded at Yong'an Port five days ago. After being locked in a steamer-like cabin and drifting at sea for nearly [-] nautical miles, all of them looked very unhappy.Since they hadn't seen the sun for many days, most people were so shaken that they couldn't even open their eyes when they got on the deck.

These prisoners of war were strung together by iron chains and shackles according to the establishment of ten people. Every ten people were like a centipede, dragging the chains forward slowly.The expressions of most people are very numb, and only a few people will look around, trying to figure out where they are by observing the surrounding environment.But the people looking around quickly put their minds away, because the black-clothed policemen had already pulled out the batons around their waists, and beat those who were staring everywhere with pain.The police have already accumulated enough experience in dealing with these hard labors, and sticks are often more effective than preaching to teach newcomers to abide by the rules here.After a few beatings, they will naturally know what they can and cannot do.

"These people are the property of the Executive Committee. Take it easy, you will be charged for killing or maiming!" Zhou Hengxing couldn't help but greeted the slightly chaotic situation on the pier.

"Did you hear what Director Zhou said? Keep your hands steady!" A middle-aged man in a police uniform with a dark complexion and a thin body quickly chimed in: "Let them line up quickly and listen to Director Zhou's lecture!"

This middle-aged man is called Yu Zhen, and he is a friend of inspector Wei Ping. He used to be a policeman in the Yamen in Yacheng, but was moved by Wei Ping's words.He was able to be successfully absorbed into the police system, which was somewhat due to Wei Ping.

Yu Zhen switched from being a policeman to a police officer. He was basically a professional counterpart. He had working experience in the yamen, and Wei Ping gave targeted guidance, so he got started very quickly. After a few months of working He was promoted by Ren Liang, the head of the Public Security Division of the Ministry of Justice, and sent to Sanya Xingang to take charge of security work.

Yu Zhen is a person who came out of the yamen, so he is naturally very sensitive to the ways of the officialdom.After he entered Haihan's civil service system, he did some homework to some extent, researching which positions in this system are fast-promoting and have potential.From Yu Zhen's point of view, the position of director of the port management committee is definitely a good position with a bright official career.

The first director of the Shengli Harbor Management Committee was Schneider, one of the nine elders of the Haihan Executive Committee. Everyone in the local naturalized people knew that Master Shi was the God of Wealth in charge of Haihan's finances, so naturally there was no need to say more.The second term is Ren Liang, and now he has joined the executive committee and became a high-ranking official, which can already explain the problem.Although Sanya Port is a new port that has just taken shape, Yu Zhen can see that the resources invested by the executive committee here are not just for fun. The future development potential may still be higher than that of Shengli Port, and this Director Zhou It is said that he was the director of the management committee at the colonial port in Annan. Although he did not seem to be promoted after being transferred back from overseas, his work experience as the top leader in two ports is not a joke, and he will probably continue to be promoted in the future.With this kind of understanding, Yu Zhen has a somewhat ingratiating attitude in front of Zhou Hengxing, and his words and deeds are mostly based on Zhou Hengxing's preferences.

Although Aftershock urged his subordinates to gather the hard laborers as a team, after all, the two boats contained hundreds of people, and it took a little time for these unknown guys to stand in line on the pier.Afterwards, Yu Zhen couldn't hold back anymore, and rushed into the hard labor team cursing, kicking and kicking in order to speed up the entire team of these hard laborers.

"Director Zhou, the team has been assembled, please speak up!" Yu Zhen handed over the tin horn while reporting.

Zhou Hengxing took the hand and said lightly: "Thanks for your hard work."

"Don't work hard, don't work hard, serve the Executive Committee!" Yu Zhen also went to several special political and ideological training courses before being promoted. Service" is a slogan that is easy to show loyalty, but it is kept in mind, and it is always on the lips.

Zhou Hengxing stayed in Annan for more than half a year, and he has a certain language talent. Now he can basically master the dialects of North and South Vietnam, so he doesn't even need an interpreter to lecture these prisoners of war.He took a few steps forward, stepped on the temporary container platform, raised the iron horn and began to speak: "This is Sanya Port, and you will spend your life here in the next few years!"

"In this place, you'd better forget where you came from and what you have done before. You only need to remember one thing in your mind, and that is to obey orders! Those who want to disobey orders, I can guarantee that you will never It is possible to leave here alive, but if you obey the order and work honestly, then you can get food and shelter to keep you alive! After three years of work, you have a chance to regain freedom! Think about it carefully, You sacrificed your life for three years for the small court in Hue Province, will they let you go? You people should have all died on the battlefield, but now you have a chance to live, I hope you can cherish it, Because this opportunity is only once for each of you!"

Zhou Hengxing saw that the hard labor in the audience was silent, and he was very satisfied with the effect of his speech. After stepping off the stage, he handed the trumpet to Yu Zhen: "You can also say a few words!"

Yu Zhen was flattered and said: "In front of Director Zhou, how dare a villain be abrupt!"

"If you tell me what you say, you will also have a share in the management of these people in the future." Zhou Hengxing nodded towards Yu Zhen and said, "I'm rushing to the Victory Fort for a meeting. You handle the matter here and arrange these as soon as possible." people go to work."

"Yes, yes, the villain must do his best, Director Zhou, go slowly."

Yu Zhen sent Zhou Hengxing away with a bow, and walked up to the platform made of cargo boxes. Looking at the crowd of heads under the stage, he cleared his throat with a dry cough, raised the microphone and said, "You Annan cubs, don't move when you get here. What other thoughts, I have a bad temper, so let’s talk about the rules first! From now on, you will be in a team of ten, and if one person violates the rules, the whole team will be punished! Anyone who tries to escape will be hanged! I'm going to do my best to get the job done!"

After giving a simple and rough speech, Yu Zhen ordered the convicts to be escorted to their quarters.The labor camp on the Sanya Port side is not far from the wharf, just at the foot of Luhuitou Ridge in the south.Naturally, the accommodation conditions in the hard labor camp cannot be compared with that of ordinary laborers. They are basically simple pergolas built of bamboo and wood. Just a little bit of protection from the sun and wind.The living area of ​​each pergola is less than ten square meters, but there are only ten people in the next team, which is basically crowded and there is no room left.

The only thing that can make the convicts feel a little bit relieved is that after being stationed here, the shackles that connected them in a string were finally removed, and they no longer have to be as embarrassed as they were a few days ago, when one person defecated while others were forced to watch .Each hut has a toilet, and there are basically no other living facilities.The tableware is only collected when the meal is open, and someone will take it away after eating. As for the labor tools, they can only be accessed during working hours, and they are counted and controlled by a special person.If someone tried to find weapons in the camp to rebel, then the house would probably have to be demolished except to use toilets.

Soon the convicts got their first meal after landing, white rice porridge served in coconut shell bowls.Although there was only a kind of black and salty unknown pickle for the next meal, the convicts still devoured it, because this was the first meal they had really eaten since they were captured, and there was really no reason to dislike it.

(End of this chapter)