1627 Rise of the South China Sea

Chapter 3635

In August 1658, a large-scale recruitment campaign suddenly began in Fujian Province. Prominent notices were posted in towns and cities of all sizes, and scholars who could read and write were specially arranged to explain the details to the public.

This recruitment activity hosted by the government was not a conscription, but a recruitment of craftsmen such as carpenters and blacksmiths, as well as young and strong men who wanted to become sailors. The government offices of each prefecture, county and city had special personnel responsible for registering applicants and arranging follow-up matters.

Recruitment activities were carried out simultaneously in Fuzhou, Quanzhou and Zhangzhou. The government not only provided generous treatment, but also did not limit the number of recruits, showing an attitude of recruiting as many as possible.

If calculated solely based on income, enlisting in the coastal prefectures of Fujian would be much better than farming, which also attracted a large number of young and strong people from inland areas such as Shaowu Prefecture, Tingzhou Prefecture, Jianning Prefecture, and Yanping Prefecture.

Although this will inevitably affect agricultural production in Fujian, the government does not see this as a big problem.

The Fujian region is mainly mountainous and hilly, with only some narrow and fragmented plains in the coastal areas. It is known as the "eight mountains, one water, and one field". There are not many good farmlands suitable for planting. The Xu family, which now rules the Fujian region, has never focused its fiscal revenue on agriculture.

Now that Fujian has received some relaxation from the Executive Committee on its sea-going direction, and clear support policies have been introduced for the shipbuilding industry, Governor Xu Yuzhuo believes that the time has come to start investing more resources in the field of shipping and maritime trade and expand the scale of operations.

After the decree was issued from Zhangzhou, it was quickly rolled out throughout Fujian and quickly achieved results. In terms of implementation efficiency, it was indeed much higher than during the Ming Dynasty.

In the conference hall of the Zhangzhou government office, Xu Yuzhuo looked at the recruitment data fed back from various places. He was very proud of the policies he had formulated and circulated them to everyone present for their reference.

The people who were convened here for the meeting today by Xu Yuzhuo include Xu Yuxing who is in charge of intelligence work, Xu Jiaqi who commands the Fujian Army, and Dong Shangyi who is in charge of diplomatic affairs.

Dong Shangyi is the son of Dong Yanyun, an aide to Xu Xinsu. He grew up with Xu Yuzhuo and others and they are like brothers. He is now in charge of diplomatic affairs between Fujian and other countries.

Liang Zhong was originally one of them, but he was in Hangzhou at the time and definitely could not rush back to Zhangzhou to attend the meeting.

In addition to these bigwigs, also present were officials in charge of Fujian's finance, taxation, agriculture, culture, education, and shipping affairs.

Most of these officials are children and relatives of several high-ranking officials in Fujian, such as the Xu family, the Dong family, and the Liang family. The entire upper-level officialdom in Fujian is a group of interest groups based on family and supported by each other, and the Xu family is still the most influential one among them.

Although the high-level ruling candidates in various regions of Hai Han tend to solidify and are not much different from Fujian in structure, the other regions are all ruled by time travelers after all, and Fujian is a special case created in a special period. It is the only region under Hai Han where the government is ruled by people who are not time travelers.

This is also the main reason why the Xu family has been restricted for a long time after taking control of Fujian, unless the Xu family voluntarily hands over the governance of Fujian and retreats behind the scenes.

However, Xu Xinsu's descendants obviously did not intend to hand over all their hard-earned family property to the Executive Committee. They would rather be subject to many restrictions and still want to maintain their status as local emperors of Fujian.

After waiting for more than 20 years, the situation finally began to change.

Of course, from another perspective, it is also because Hai Han no longer has to worry about the possibility of rebellion from local forces like the Xu family, so many restrictions have been relaxed. As for whether the Xu family, which has been imprisoned for so many years, is a tiger out of the gate to make great plans, or has long lost the skills of their fathers and can only do some maritime trade business honestly, it depends on their own performance.

The purpose of Xu Yuzhuo convening this meeting was to unify understanding, set goals and assign tasks.

He knew that there were no good-for-nothings among the people present; they were all capable people in their respective fields, and the younger generation had received Hai Han’s education, and most of them had studied abroad on Hainan Island.

They have seen how Hai Han has expanded overseas in recent years. As long as they follow suit, it will not be difficult to achieve results.

The only problem is that even though the Executive Committee has relaxed most of the restrictions, they can't go everywhere, and there are still some invisible obstacles standing in their way.

"Everyone, tell me, which direction should we focus on next?"

After hearing Xu Yuzhuo's question, the young officials were eager to try, but no one took the initiative to speak. There were so many important people present, and they didn't dare to stand out.

It was Xu Yuxing who took over the conversation first: "In fact, the Executive Committee does not leave us much room for choice. Needless to say, the inland areas will not be open to us if the Executive Committee does not lift the blockade. The north and the east are not directions we can go to casually."

"In my opinion, only the South China Sea and the waters west of the Strait of Malacca are the directions that are convenient for us to enter."

Xu Yuxing is worthy of being an official in charge of intelligence work. With just a few words, he has pointed out the external environment facing Fujian.

Jiangxi, which borders Fujian, has already been the predetermined target of the East China Sea Region and the Guangdong-Guangdong Region. Fujian dares not get involved without the Executive Committee's approval.

6◇9◇Book◇Bar

The Korean Peninsula and Liaodong region to the north are all the sphere of influence of the Northern Region. There was no problem for Fujian Commercial Bank to do business there, but if they wanted to establish a military base or even demarcate a sphere of influence, that would affect the interests of the Northern Region.

The Northern Region Governor Chen Yixin has now joined the Executive Committee and is the youngest official in the Executive Committee. He may have to stay in the Executive Committee for ten, twenty years or even longer. He is not someone the Xu family can afford to offend.

As for the East China Sea Region's overseas sphere of influence, it is mainly Japan and Ryukyu. Shi Diwen's reputation is now at its peak, and all the shipbuilding orders Fujian has obtained from Japan are thanks to him, so naturally there is no possibility of competing with the East China Sea Region for territory.

In the Nanyang direction, some progress has been made thanks to Xu Kaiyuan leading his troops to assist in the war, but it is still far from the goal that the Xu family really wants to achieve.

The area west of Malacca is still a very unfamiliar area to the Fujian Xu family, and there is no clear action plan yet. At least before taking any action, they must first establish a solid relationship with the Sing Tao region.

As for the direction of development, several senior officials had already reached a tacit understanding. Dong Shangyi, who was in charge of foreign affairs, immediately spoke up and took the initiative to undertake the task of going to the two regions of Luzon and Xingdao to discuss cooperation matters with the local governors.

(End of this chapter)