1627 Rise of the South China Sea

Chapter 3652

After visiting Manila and Sing Tao Island, two multi-ethnic areas, Dong Shangyi subconsciously thought that Phuket, where the special operations division is stationed, should have a similar population structure.

After all, this place is far away from Hai Han’s mainland, and it is quite difficult to attract Han immigrants from the country. However, people from neighboring countries may come to Hai Han because of the relatively superior living conditions.

However, the actual situation here was beyond his expectations. Except for the soldiers of the special warfare division, the immigrants settling in Phuket were still mostly Han Chinese, and their proportion in the overall population was much higher than in other areas of the South China Sea.

This is obviously inconsistent with Qian Shaobao's previous claim that he "doesn't care where the immigrants come from." It seems that Qian Tiandun's approach to governing here still follows more traditional values, and his level of trust in the Han people far exceeds that of other ethnic groups.

This is good news for Dong Shangyi. The more Qian Tiandun values ​​the Han people, the more valuable the immigrants Fujian will provide, and the greater the possibility of cooperation between the two sides.

Of course, the disadvantages of this insistence are also obvious. So far, more than half of the Han immigrants who have settled in Phuket are actually family members of special operations division soldiers. There are not many immigrants recruited from the country through various channels, and they are far from meeting the needs of developing Phuket.

Moreover, in addition to Phuket Island, the Special Operations Division's territory now also includes the Hambantota Port on Ceylon Island, 4,000 miles to the west. As a new territory acquired at the beginning of this year, it also needs a large population to complete the early construction of the colony.

The civilian residential area of ​​Phuket is not too large. In Dong Shangyi's opinion, it is just the size of a town. The people who settled here are not mainly Fujian and Guangdong immigrants like other places in Nanhai, but mostly people from the north of the Yangtze River, and even many people come from the distant Liaodong region.

This is not difficult to understand. After all, the special operations division was stationed in the north for many years before moving south, so there are a large number of northerners among its family members. However, this is a rare situation in the South China Sea region. Dong Shangyi couldn't help but marvel when he saw that the people here still maintained some northern living habits.

The currently developed area on Phuket Island is not large, and Dong Shangyi only spent one day to tour most of the main areas here.

He noticed that all production facilities outside the military base, including the work done by immigrants, were basically set up around the needs of the special operations division.

Apart from the shipping industry which is almost entirely contracted by Fu Ruifeng, the rest are mostly handicraft workshops run by blacksmiths, carpenters, masons and other craftsmen, and their business mainly comes from the Special Warfare Division.

The main daily necessities on the island are still rationed, and are uniformly registered and distributed by the special operations division. Only some non-essential daily necessities can be bought in a limited number of shops, and they are expensive. This shortage of supplies will probably not be alleviated until the special operations division completely solves the problem of logistics supply.

From Dong Shangyi's perspective, this place has everything, but also lacks everything. Almost no materials or goods can be freely supplied, which leads to the unsatisfactory business operation in the local area.

This situation made him a little confused. How could Fu Ruifeng make a profit with the huge amount of money it invested here? Given Li Yuande's respect for Qian Tiandun, he shouldn't have treated the special warfare division as a sucker, right?

Of course, he couldn't ask Li Yuande directly for the answer, so Dong Shangyi could only ask Qian Shaobao in a roundabout way. Only by figuring out this matter, can Fujian's commercial organizations make profits in this place and maintain normal operations. However, Qian Shaobao did not give a direct answer to this, only saying that the answer would be revealed when the time came. Dong Shangyi believed that this should be related to commercial secrets, and the special warfare division must also have a vested interest, so it was regarded as a secret and not disclosed to an outsider like him.

Dong Shangyi had no choice but to shift his attention elsewhere. After all, he was a soldier, so he was naturally very interested in the equipment and training of the special warfare division. After getting Qian Shaobao's permission, he finally got his wish and entered the special warfare division's base for a visit.

The internal facilities of the special operations division's base seemed to be no different from other Hai Han military bases that Dong Shangyi had visited before. Whether it was the barracks, the training grounds, or the arsenal, they were all built according to the uniform standards of the military and there was nothing special about them.

However, the construction of the Phuket base only started after the occupation of this place last year. Most of the bricks and tiles used to build these houses must have been transported thousands of miles from Singapore Island, and the cost must have been considerable.

What really opened Dong Shangyi's eyes was the special operations division's sophisticated equipment.

Compared with the ordinary individual equipment of the Hai Han army, the only thing that is exactly the same is probably the cotton standard military uniform they wear.

In addition to the automatic rifle that Dong Shangyi coveted, the individual equipment carrying equipment is also different from that of ordinary troops. The backpacks carrying daily necessities are larger and stronger, and can be loaded with sleeping bags, raincoats, food, and toiletries according to combat needs. They can also be equipped with individual marching tents, folding engineer shovels, shoes and boots, and even equipped with external waterproof bags specifically for use when swimming.

The combat carrying equipment installed at the waist and chest also has more detailed functional divisions. In addition to traditional bullet bags, there are also bags specifically used to carry maps, gun accessories, bayonets, grenades, integrated water bottles and lunch boxes and other items.

These carrying equipment vary depending on the type of military service and rank. For example, snipers will have a hard lens barrel specifically used to place the scope, and only officers above the rank of second lieutenant are equipped with pistol holsters.

The straps of the carrying gear also have buckles that are easy to adjust the tightness and length, which can concentrate the weight as much as possible on the center of gravity of the human body when carrying it, reducing the fatigue caused by the load to the body.

These carefully designed carrying devices allow soldiers to carry more equipment during combat and use it conveniently and efficiently.

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Of course, the cost of individual equipment will also increase. Qian Shaobao said that the cost of these carrying equipment alone is nearly twice as high as that of ordinary troops, which is the main reason why these good things are not widely equipped in other units of the Hai Han Army.

In addition to these individual equipment, the special operations division's display of heavy firepower equipment also made Dong Shangyi envious.

Whether it is small-caliber field artillery or large-caliber heavy artillery, the artillery equipped by the special operations division are all new artillery that can load copper-cased shells from the breech, while the Fujian troops are still using old-fashioned muzzle-loading solid bullet artillery. The striking power of the two differs by at least dozens of times, and they are no longer weapons of the same era.

In addition, there were sniper rifles, grenades, mortars, mines and other advanced weapons that the Fujian Army was restricted from equipping. Dong Shangyi was dazzled and wished he could take a few away so that Fujian could also see the strength of the world's number one army.