1627 Rise of the South China Sea

Chapter 3733

As local ships continued to join along the way, the formation needed to be adjusted from time to time, and the speed of the entire fleet had to be slowed down accordingly to prevent civilian ships from falling behind.

Starting from Hangzhou Bay, it took three days to reach the first stop, Zhangzhou, Fujian, a journey of more than a thousand miles.

Shi Diwen was naturally not satisfied with such a speed, but he could not refuse the participation of these civilian ships with formal procedures, nor could he ask the numerous civilian ships in the fleet to increase their speed to the navy's standards.

It seems that the only option is to provide some temporary training and reorganization to the accompanying civilian ships while they are docked at Zhangzhou Port to load cargo, so as to minimize the delays in the journey caused by poor command.

However, the fleet that is about to join from Fujian will not encounter similar problems.

The current Regent Xu Yuzhuo has obviously put a lot of thought into preparations. The ten ships participating in this operation are all armed merchant ships of uniform standard, that is, civilian models of exploration-class warships.

Moreover, personnel in key positions such as the captain and the first mate basically have military experience, so it is not an exaggeration to say that it is a small paramilitary fleet.

Compared with the somewhat scattered ordinary civilian organizations, the configuration of the Fujian fleet can basically achieve seamless connection with the East China Sea Fleet, making it particularly prominent among the noisy civilian ships.

Xu Yuzhuo hosted a banquet in Zhangzhou City to entertain Shi Diwen and his party, and introduced them to the person in charge of the Fujian fleet.

There are many talented young people in the third generation of the Xu family, but the best among them is Xu Kaiyuan. Xu Yuzhuo is also very optimistic about his son's ability. Last year, Xu Kaiyuan led the Fujian Fleet to the South Seas to assist the Luzon Fleet, which shows Xu Yuzhuo's trust in him.

However, Xu Kaiyuan was still in charge of colonial affairs on Sulawesi Island in Southeast Asia at that time, and he would definitely not be able to make it to this mission to the Indian Ocean.

Therefore, this time Xu Yuzhuo gave the task to his nephew Xu Kaisheng, the son of his third brother Xu Yuxing. This was also Xu Yuzhuo's support for the younger generation of his clan. After returning from this trip, he would give Xu Kaisheng a credit and promote him.

Shi Diwen was not surprised by such an arrangement. There were at least a dozen nephews and nieces of time travelers in the fleet, all of whom were stuffed in under various names. Xu Kaisheng was actually just like them, just here to get this gilded resume.

Xu Yuzhuo took the initiative to introduce Xu Kaisheng's situation. This young man was sent to study in Sanya when he was young. He studied from elementary school to the command major in the Naval Academy. He also served in the South China Sea Fleet for two years. His family background was no less than that of the descendants of time travelers. He was just transferred back to Fujian to take up a post two years ago.

The only thing we lack at present is practical experience in commanding large-scale military operations.

"Young people are promising. Young people are to be feared! I say, Old Xu, you sent a top student from the Naval Academy to command a civilian fleet. Isn't this a bit of a waste of talent?"

Shi Diwen naturally would not spoil the fun and complimented him a few words.

Since the Xu family in Fujian is also going to take this opportunity to invest resources in the jurisdiction of the Special Operations Division, Shi Diwen will of course try to find out what Xu Yuzhuo's plans are.

Xu Yuzhuo was very frank: "I want to see if the skills this kid has learned are fake and whether he can lead a fleet. If he can't even lead a civilian ship properly, how can I trust him to command an armed fleet in the future?" Shi Diwen smiled and said, "I think you are sending your juniors to explore the way over there? Once you understand the sea conditions of the route, you will prepare to open up a route and start sailing, right?"

Xu Yuzhuo also laughed and said, "I am not that slow to wait until now to send people to explore the way! To be honest with you, Lord Shi, I sent people to the Special Warfare Division last year."

Last year, Dong Shangyi represented Fujian in a diplomatic mission to the two regions of Luzon and Xingdao, seeking to develop in-depth cooperation with them. After the mission, Dong Shangyi did not return to Fujian, but went directly across the Strait of Malacca to the jurisdiction of the Special Operations Division. He did go there with the purpose of exploring the way, but he did not expect to stay there for more than half a year.

Dong Shangyi has been there for so long that he has become familiar with everyone from top to bottom. His understanding of the situation in the special operations division and his current network of contacts within the division are far beyond what Xu Kaisheng can compare to.

Xu Yuzhuo was not in a hurry to call Dong Shangyi back, but continued to send people there, preparing to increase investment in the local area. This was obviously due to his listening to some suggestions from Dong Shangyi.

In comparison, Shi Diwen's progress seems to be a little behind.

Although the East China Sea region has been supplying supplies to the special operations division intermittently and has its own information channels in the local area, it has not been able to arrange a figure like Dong Shangyi to be by Qian Tiandun's side. In this respect, it is indeed inferior to Fujian.

However, Shi Diwen was not nervous about this. Even if there were a hundred Dong Shangyis over there, they could not match the influence of him making this trip in person.

When they were fighting for the empire, Shi Diwen and Qian Tiandun had fought side by side many times, and they had the same background. This friendship between them is something that outsiders cannot compare to.

In addition, the East China Sea Region now has enormous resources that can provide multi-faceted assistance to the Special Operations Division. Qian Tiandun should have no reason to refuse cooperation.

As for Fujian, in terms of strength and seniority, they probably have to lag behind a little. Younger people like Dong Shangyi and Xu Kaisheng may be able to work for the Special Warfare Division and the Fujian Xu family at the same time, but they are not qualified to become Qian Tiandun's partners.

After staying in Zhangzhou for two days, the fleet set off again for the Pearl River Estuary to load various Guangdong and Guangxi commercial goods that had recently been transferred there in Hong Kong.

The prosperous scenes of the ports along the Hai Han route shocked the Japanese immigrants who were going to be transported overseas for resettlement.

Most of these Japanese immigrants are family members and widows of those killed in the Civil War. Whether they voluntarily surrendered to Hai Han or were sent to Sasebo by local authorities in exchange for aid, these people could only accept an unknown fate. But now it seems that the prospects may not be bleak, and Hai Han’s strength and prosperity are not a fabricated legend.

If I could settle down in Hai Han, perhaps I could really live a better life than before.

However, as they set out from port again and again, these Japanese immigrants gradually realized that the prosperous port they saw was not their destination. It was said that they would have to drift on the sea for at least a month before reaching the end of their journey - of course, it was also possible that it was just a transit point.

Such a long voyage also made these Japanese immigrants realize that the size of Hai Han's territory had long exceeded their imagination. Hai Han accepted Japanese immigrants with almost no barriers, and claimed that it would provide land and resettlement fees to all immigrants who settled overseas. They realized that they could get these favorable conditions without fighting for their lives.

Think about it again, those bigwigs fighting for territory in the Japanese archipelago just to grab more land and population, which led to their families being forced to go to the battlefield and eventually die in the war. It is simply pathetic.