1627 Rise of the South China Sea

Chapter 3641

Francis' legendary experience is not an isolated case. In fact, after Hai Han seized Luzon from Spain, a large number of Spanish personnel who remained in Luzon had similar experiences, and he was far more than the only Spanish official appointed by Hai Han.

Such an appointment not only allows people like Francis to fully play their roles, but also provides a role model for the large number of Hispanics in Luzon - as long as they are loyal to Hai Han and work hard, they can have a bright future even if they are not of Han descent.

However, as a Fujian native, Dong Shangyi still felt somewhat uncomfortable with this kind of cross-ethnic personnel appointment and could not accept it immediately.

Naturally, he would not show such emotions in front of Francis and Yu Zhen. After all, they were officials in the same dynasty. Moreover, since he needed help from Luzon, he had to try his best to show goodwill.

Dong Shangyi very enthusiastically invited Francis to visit Fujian at a convenient time and teach Fujian officials how to manage Europeans.

This really hit the nail on the head for Francis. Although he had been an official in Luzon for twenty years, no government from other regions had ever proactively invited him to visit and exchange ideas with the local area like Dong Shangyi did.

Francis was so delighted by what he said that he agreed immediately and invited Dong Shangyi to visit his home before leaving Manila.

After leaving the Western Management Bureau, Dong Shangyi went to another important area worth visiting in the Manila area, the Cavite Naval Base located in the bay.

As early as the Spanish rule, Cavite Peninsula had become a military port where armed ships were stationed. After Hai Han took over, it built a large-scale naval base on the original basis and turned it into the largest naval base in the entire Luzon region.

Although Fujian also has three major naval bases in Zhangzhou, Quanzhou and Fuzhou, in terms of port size and supporting facilities, they are indeed slightly inferior to the Cavite Naval Port.

This is like the difference between legitimate and illegitimate children. Although the armies of both places fly the Hai Han dual-color flag and are loyal to the Hai Han Executive Committee, there are still some subtle differences in treatment.

For example, the iron-frame steam crane that is several meters high on the military port dock, and the freight steam locomotive that travels between the dock and the warehouse area are all advanced equipment that Fujian has always been seeking but has not been able to obtain, which makes Dong Shangyi feel a little sour.

The construction level of the military camp is not much different from that of Fujian. At first glance, it is full of standard long rows of brick and tile houses.

The distance between the barracks, the number of rooms in each row, the size of the rooms, the drainage ditches outside the barracks and even the dimensions of the green belts were all constructed in accordance with the "Hai Han Military Barracks Construction Standards."

The only slight difference is that the barracks here have more and larger windows. According to the accompanying officer, this is because Manila is located in the tropics and better ventilation is needed to lower the temperature in the room.

Based on the number of barracks, Dong Shangyi inferred that the permanent force here is about 4,000 people, which is basically consistent with the size of the 4th Detachment of the South China Sea Fleet. This fleet, stationed in Cavite Port, is also the main force of the Luzon region's maritime armed forces.

Dong Shangyi wanted to take this opportunity to get a glimpse of the true strength of the Luzon Fleet, but unfortunately most of the fleet's ships are still deployed in the southern waters, so the port here seems a bit empty, with only a few exploration-class warships returning to the port for repairs. Next to the naval base is part of the Manila Shipyard, but Dong Shangyi had already visited it a few days ago while waiting for Qiu Yuan to meet him.

After a few days of visiting, Dong Shangyi felt that the infrastructure level and prosperity in the Manila area were basically at the same level as Fujian, but there was still a gap from the wealthy areas of Jiangsu and Zhejiang under the East China Sea region, and it was even worse than Hainan Island, which was once the capital region.

However, it is said that the Luzon region has begun to focus on mining as a key industry in recent years, and there are many high-value mineral deposits in the region that have yet to be mined, and the long-term benefits in the future will be considerable. Of course, the premise is that there must be sufficient labor to invest in the mines distributed throughout the country.

The thirst for human resources is one of the main reasons for the cooperation between the two places, and Dong Shangyi is also very clear about this. Now he has a preliminary plan in mind, which is to let Fujian start organizing immigrants as soon as possible, establish mining groups and reclamation groups in the name of the government, and participate in the development of the area south of Luzon.

Dong Shangyi even had an urge to go to the southern waters in person, but Manila was three thousand miles away from Sulawesi Island, and the voyage to Beimen Port in the southern New World was another six or seven thousand miles. He had an important mission on this trip and really didn't have enough time to deal with such side quests.

However, since Xu Kaiyuan is still on a mission in the southern waters, he can let the young man do it.

Before Dong Shangyi left Manila, he entrusted the government to send a telegram to Xu Kaiyuan, telling him not to rush back to Fujian to report, but to take this opportunity to travel in the south for a while and explore the possibility of establishing a fixed route.

After staying in Manila for nearly ten days, Dong Shangyi set out on his journey again. His next destination would be Sing Tao Port, which is nearly 5,000 miles away from Manila.

In order to save time on the road, Dong Shangyi did not choose the safe route along the Palawan Islands and the coast of Borneo, but decided to take the shortest route through the middle of the South China Sea.

But this decision not only failed to save time, but also caused the ship he was on to encounter a storm on the way. The sailors fought hard for two days before they got out of trouble, but the route had already deviated from the plan and went to the center of the South China Sea. Moreover, the cabin was flooded, causing serious damage to the supplies, and the rations were not enough for them to support them to their destination.

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When they re-determined their position and planned their route, they found that they had to travel thousands of miles more than originally planned. If they had known this, they would have chosen a safe route, at least they could have taken shelter at an anchorage near the shore when a storm occurred.

But at this point, Dong Shangyi could only use material rewards to encourage the sailors to work harder, and they finally arrived at Anbuna Island, a famous den of money-losing in the South China Sea, before they ran out of ammunition and food.

This place is still more than a thousand miles away from Xingdao. Dong Shangyi has no way to drive the exhausted sailors to continue on their journey. They can only stop to rest for two days, replenish supplies, and repair the damaged parts of the ship.

The advantage of Anbuna Island is that as long as you have money, you can get any service you need on the island, not to mention repairing the ship, even buying a new ship immediately is no problem.

The sailors who arrived on the island soon discovered that the little money they had was not enough to allow them to live a carefree life on the island. At best, they could only spend a symbolic amount in the sailors' taverns in the port area.