1627 Rise of the South China Sea

Chapter 3730

Similar immigration promotion activities were held simultaneously in major cities during the National Day holiday. Among them, there were many eloquent people like Huo Dechuan who took the stage to promote the government, which indeed made many people move from the heart to action and join the team of emigrating overseas.

Although advocating the achievement of personal goals seems to deviate somewhat from the theme of "the call of the country", the remarkable effect achieved by this propaganda method has made the government happy to turn a blind eye to the deviation and not restrict the specific means used by propagandists.

As long as the civil affairs department can attract enough people to sign up for overseas immigration, even if there is an obvious element of inducement in the publicity, it will be regarded by the government as a harmless move.

The most significant effect is in the Fujian and Guangdong regions along the southern coast. These regions have a tradition of sailing to overseas locations since ancient times, and almost all the Chinese in Southeast Asia around the South China Sea come from the Fujian and Guangdong regions.

As Hai Han's territory expanded, the scope of Fujian's overseas activities was also increasing. With the tradition of developing overseas, these people were also the first group to benefit from Hai Han's expansion.

Even those new colonies that are thousands of miles away from Hai Han’s homeland and have not yet developed are, in the eyes of these people, treasure troves that are not yet known to the world.

They will spontaneously organize teams to work overseas based on clans, villages, towns, counties, and states.

Although the government may not necessarily like this kind of civil society groups, it ultimately brings more benefits than disadvantages to the development of overseas colonies, so generally no restrictions are imposed on it.

This time, the size and number of the team of Fujian-Guangdong civil organizations also did not disappoint the government.

In Guangzhou alone, more than 30 groups of immigrants registered with the government after the National Day, totaling more than 3,000 men, women, old and young. Meanwhile, the number of scattered immigrants recruited by local government officials has not yet reached this number.

In such matters where one truly needs to stick together for support, the prestige of the government is indeed far less useful than the blood ties of clan members and fellow townsmen.

Fujian is taking even bigger steps. After the Fujian fleet went south to participate in the war between Luzon and the Spaniards last year, as a reward for Fujian's sending troops to help, Luzon opened up many areas in Sulawesi Island and the Lesser Sunda Islands specifically for Fujian immigrants to settle down, and gave them a certain degree of autonomy, which opened a door for Fujian immigrants to move south in large numbers.

In just a few months after the end of the war, thousands of Fujian immigrants settled in the area, forming more than a dozen small-town colonies.

Although these colonies were administratively under the Luzon region, the personnel composition of each colony was closely related to Fujian. It was hard to say whether these colonies would obey the Manila authorities or be loyal to the Xu family in Fujian.

Qiu Yuan and Xiao Liang, who were based in Manila, were not completely unaware of this special situation. However, the Luzon region itself did not have such a large population to fill the area between the south of the Celebes Sea and the New World in the south. It could only rely on importing immigrants from other regions.

In order to ensure the safe operation of the route connecting to the New World in the south, the Luzon region spent a lot of effort to drive the Spaniards out of this area.

If these areas were left alone after the war, the Spanish would surely strike back soon. But as long as there were a large number of Hai Han settlements in the area, it would be much more difficult for the Spanish to retake these areas.

Although the immigrants from Fujian did not have a very reliable background, fortunately they were all Hai Han nationals and could at least provide some support for the development of the new continent in the south. As for whether their future local income would be kept in the Luzon region or sent back to Fujian for other uses, it did not seem to be a big problem at the moment.

Against the historical background of Hai Han's rapid expansion, the possibility of internal scramble for territory among various parties is actually very small. The two helmsmen of the Luzon region do not think that such a thing will cause a conflict of interest between Luzon and Fujian.

The land area of ​​Sulawesi Island alone is larger than that of Fujian. This place is enough to accommodate a population of over one million people. Even moving all the people in Fujian here would not be a problem.

Moreover, just west of Sulawesi, there is Borneo, which is the size of six Fujian provinces. Most of it is uninhabited or inhabited by indigenous people. If Fujianese want land, they can settle in the area.

The advance team from the Luzon region had just set foot on the new southern continent, which had a land area ten times the size of Borneo, and was eager to have more immigrants settle in the region.

It is no exaggeration to say that the speed at which Fujian exported immigrants was far behind the speed at which Shanghai expanded its territory. Even if Fujian's assets were emptied, it could only build a few more colonies overseas.

And these colonies are just some inconspicuous dots on the newly revised national map.

The enthusiasm of the people in the Donghai region to emigrate overseas is relatively low, and the number of immigrants recruited is far less than that in the Fujian-Guangzhou region.

The reason for this is very simple. The areas under the jurisdiction of the East China Sea region are almost all the rice-producing areas of the south of the Yangtze River, traditional affluent areas. Now with the blessing of the imperial capital of Hangzhou, there is no need to go overseas to gain opportunities for development.

The response from the northern region was relatively flat. The people there have a natural fear of going out to sea, and even recruiting sailors is more difficult than in the southern region. Even the size of the Northern Fleet is smaller than that of the East China Sea Fleet and the South China Sea Fleet of the same level.

Of course, part of the reason for the latter was that Qian Tiandun took away part of the main force of the Northern Fleet when he went south in order to ensure the amphibious combat capability of the special operations division.

However, the Northern Region has its own unique way of supporting the country's overseas colonization policy.

As the long-term bases of Qian Tiandun and the Special Operations Division, Shandong and Liaodong have always been the main sources of troops for the Special Operations Division. Even after Qian Tiandun led the main force of the Special Operations Division to the South China Sea, this tradition has not changed much. The Northern Region headed by Chen Yixin still sends a certain number of high-quality troops to the Special Operations Division every year.

A considerable number of these soldiers who joined the army from Shandong and Liaodong set joining the special operations division as their personal goal. The experience of serving in the special operations division is considered a great honor in the local area.

Of course, before that, in addition to completing recruit training, they must also complete at least two years of military service in the Northern Region before they are eligible to sign up as candidates for the Special Operations Division. After that, there will be a series of professional skills assessments, and only after passing the assessments can they stand out and join the Special Operations Division.

Of course, Chen Yixin did not send these elite soldiers who had passed the Northern Region's selection for nothing. After they had served in the special operations division for a sufficient number of years and were promoted to a certain rank through accumulating military merit, they could apply to be transferred back to their hometown.

After returning to the Northern Region, these people will undoubtedly be able to take up key positions in the military. Even if they retire, they can at least be independent in local government offices. Their vision, knowledge, and professional ability are often far superior to local officials who do not have these overseas experiences.