1627 Rise of the South China Sea

Chapter 3653

The Special Operations Division undoubtedly has a very special position in the organization of the Hai Han Army. It was established in the South China Sea, became famous in the Northern Expedition, and now has fought its way back to the south from the north. It has won numerous battles in the past 30 years and has made countless military exploits. It is a recognized ace elite force throughout the country.

It is precisely because of this outstanding status that the Special Warfare Division can receive special treatment in all aspects. Not only is its size far greater than that of ordinary troops, but it is also equipped with Hai Han's most advanced weapons and equipment. Some new weapons are even in the test and adjustment stage, and the prototypes will be allocated to the Special Warfare Division first, so as to collect actual combat data for improvement.

But the advanced weapons and equipment were obviously not what the special operations division soldiers were most proud of. Qian Shaobao did not spend too much time introducing their combat performance to Dong Shangyi, but instead focused the visit on the division headquarters' war exploits exhibition hall.

Here are collected all kinds of equipment used by the Special Operations Division since its establishment, enemy flags, weapons, and troop mobilization tokens captured in battle, records of meritorious services in major wars, and various military awards received from the Executive Committee and the Ministry of National Defense over the years. There are actually thousands of collections of various kinds.

Next to each collection, there was a text introducing its origin. Dong Shangyi was dazzled and excited.

Even though he had never had the experience of fighting with a special operations division, after seeing the exhibits here, he finally had a more concrete understanding of the great achievements of this ever-victorious army.

"The outstanding feature of our special operations division has never been the weapons and equipment, but every loyal and brave soldier with excellent military qualities!"

Qian Shaobao proudly introduced to Dong Shangyi that the collections of this exhibition hall were moved here south along with the Special Operations Division, but due to the progress of infrastructure construction in Phuket, they were not seen again until recently after leaving the warehouse.

All new recruits joining the special operations division will be arranged to visit the division headquarters exhibition hall to learn about the glorious history of the unit in detail, so as to cultivate the new recruits' cohesion and sense of honor.

In fact, the Fujian Army also has similar exhibition facilities, but because it has not participated in as many battles, the number and value of the collections are indeed much smaller. As for the related publicity methods and influence, they are incomparable to the special operations division with outstanding military exploits.

But no matter what, Dong Shangyi still insisted that the extraordinary combat effectiveness of the special warfare division was achieved by relying on those advanced weapons and equipment. As for the political propaganda that Qian Shaobao repeatedly emphasized, in his view it was still just an auxiliary means to gather people's hearts and boost morale.

Of course, he would not express any doubt in front of Qian Shaobao. After all, the main mission of his trip was to seek in-depth cooperation with the Special Operations Division on behalf of Fujian, and he should try his best to avoid any disharmonious factors.

After waiting for three days in Phuket, the special operations division commander Qian Tiandun finally returned and quickly arranged to meet with Dong Shangyi.

"I haven't seen you for several years, and you are still as charming as ever. You are truly a blessing to the country!"

After Dong Shangyi conveyed Xu Yuzhuo's greetings, he immediately gave him a compliment. But in fact, Qian Tiandun had been traveling outside for many days and was obviously tired at this time, which was not the best state.

Qian Tiandun exchanged a few pleasantries, asked about Xu Yuzhuo's recent situation and Dong Shangyi's settlement after arriving in Phuket, and then took the initiative to turn to the main topic. "Master Dong has come all the way to visit our remote and deserted island this time. I believe he has an important purpose. In order to save everyone's time, please speak directly!"

How could Qian Tiandun not know the purpose of Dong Shangyi's coming to Phuket? He had been friends with military leaders such as Xiao Liang and Luo Jie for many years, and they would exchange information with each other on a regular basis. It was not difficult to find out what kind of cooperation conditions Dong Shangyi brought to Luzon and Xingdao with a little inquiry.

Seeing that Qian Tiandun went straight to the point, Dong Shangyi did not dare to play any tricks in front of him. He immediately stated his purpose and said that Fujian was willing to cooperate with the Special Operations Division to provide shipbuilding, immigration, trade and other cooperation projects here. The condition was that Fujian trading companies would be allowed to enter the Indian Ocean region to engage in trade activities and provide the necessary shelter for Fujian's personnel, ships and funds.

Of course, the cooperation projects that Fujian can provide have been carefully selected. They are all aimed at the urgent needs of the Special Operations Division, and the required conditions are extremely low, which basically will not cause any additional burden to the Special Operations Division.

However, even so, Qian Tiandun did not agree immediately, but patiently asked Dong Shangyi to explain one by one so that he could understand the details of the cooperation project.

The specific details of these cooperation projects in Fujian are actually similar to the conditions previously negotiated in Luzon and Xingdao, except that the area where the special operations division is located is farther away from the Hai Han mainland, so the costs of various projects have to be increased by at least 10% to supplement the cost of this extra voyage.

If the destination is the further port of Hambantota in Ceylon, the proportion of freight in the cost will increase even more.

Although Dong Shangyi asked around in Sing Tao, he still couldn't find out the price of these services provided by Sing Tao to the Special Operations Division. He also understood that this was done intentionally by Sing Tao officials so that Qian Tiandun could take the initiative in the negotiation and have room to bargain with Fujian.

On the other hand, there is a strong competitor in Phuket, namely Furifeng. If Fujian wants to reach a cooperation with the Special Operations Division, it must take into account the quotations of its competitors. Therefore, the conditions given by Dong Shangyi leave almost no profit margin for his side. He is purely aiming to get things done even if he does not make money.

But no matter how he calculated, how could he have imagined that Li Yuande, who was in charge of the affairs of Fu Ruifeng here, had never considered making money at the beginning in order to follow Qian Tiandun. The entire freight fleet he formed and brought here not only did not make money from the cooperation, but Li Yuande paid a lot of money out of his own pocket.

It was not until the Special Operations Division gained a foothold in the Indian Ocean that Li Yuande began to make profits from other projects. However, the transportation costs were always kept around cost price, and their transportation capacity was of course much greater than that of the newly arrived Fujianese. Therefore, the fees charged from the Special Operations Division were lower than Dong Shangyi's quotation.

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Sure enough, after listening to Dong Shangyi's explanation, Qian Tiandun said directly that the special operations division had limited funds and needed Fujian to give greater transportation price discounts in order to achieve cooperation.

This gave Dong Shangyi a headache. He could imagine that the other party's counter-offer was probably based on Fu Ruifeng, but if he lowered the price further, he would undoubtedly lose money, which would not be of any practical benefit to Fujian. Unless he could make up for the shortfall by earning profits from other fields through long-term operation.

However, he had looked around the island in the past few days and did not find any high-value business projects here. The most valuable "commodity" on the island was actually the immigrant population. However, due to the existence of other channels such as Fu Ruifeng, it was difficult for Fujian to obtain huge profits from the special operations division through immigrant recruitment.

It was barely acceptable not to make money from the cooperation, but if he had to pay for it, it would be difficult for him to explain to Xu Yuzhuo after returning to Fujian.