1627 Rise of the South China Sea

Chapter 3752

During the meeting at Roger's residence that night, in addition to reminiscing about the past, Shi Diwen also confirmed at least two things.

First, the Sing Tao District did not actually terminate its cooperation with the Special Operations Division, but continued to maintain a tacit understanding with the Special Operations Division that was beyond the outside world's cognition; second, the amount of resources required for the development and construction of the western front was quite large, so large that the Sing Tao District and the Special Operations Division could hardly bear it together, so they could only use some means and rely on the Executive Committee to mobilize national power to allocate resources.

However, in Shi Diwen's opinion, this was not an act that needed to be punished, and what he said before was just a joke to Roger. Only when you ask for help from the Executive Committee can you obey the management of the Executive Committee. Shi Diwen has realized this truth since he became a member of the Executive Committee.

If Xingdao and the Special Operations Division could complete overseas colonization and construction on their own without the help of the Executive Committee and operate independently in the Western Circuit, that would really make the Executive Committee worried.

Therefore, from the perspective of the Executive Committee, it is not a taboo for local governments to resort to some tricks in order to gain resources, especially for overseas regions with strong independence. As long as they do not seek to break away from the control of the Executive Committee, then everything will be fine.

In the eyes of the Executive Committee, the expansion of overseas colonies has exceeded the national planning and has become an action led by border troops such as various overseas regions and special operations divisions. If the Executive Committee cannot exercise control over these newly expanded areas, then these overseas areas far away from the mainland will inevitably face the risk of splitting in the future.

This has long been verified by history in the old time and space before the time travel. All the Western colonial countries that were once prosperous in the Age of Exploration eventually had to face the reality that their overseas colonies gradually broke away from their rule and sought independence.

Since they had already foreseen this historical development trend and possessed many advanced technologies that were ahead of their time, the Executive Committee was certainly unwilling to let Hai Han follow this old path.

Participating in the construction and operation of overseas colonies in various ways has proven to be an effective measure of control over overseas colonies in the past thirty years, and the same will certainly be done on the Western Front today.

However, judging from the information Roger revealed intentionally or unintentionally, Shi Diwen can basically conclude that Qian Tiandun had already anticipated the measures that the Executive Committee would take.

According to the original itinerary, Shi Diwen's fleet would only stay in Xingdao for no more than three days, and would set off again after completing the loading and unloading of some cargo, but the actual situation made this plan fail.

Many of the immigrants who had endured the long sea voyage were not in good health, and it was difficult for the weak to recover after just two or three days of rest. The tropical climate was also too much for people from high latitudes to bear, and some even contracted malaria on the way and fell ill as soon as they got off the ship.

In desperation, Shi Diwen could only announce that they would stay for three more days so that people would have more time to recover. Those who still could not follow the main force would have to stay on Xingdao temporarily.

Roger comforted him that such losses were inevitable. In the early years, among the immigrants sent from China to Sing Tao Island, it was considered good if about 80% could finally settle down. A loss of 10% to 20% due to various reasons was normal.

Although the conditions of immigration ships today are much better than in the early years, the area where the special operations division is located is more remote, and it is natural that some damage will occur along the way due to various reasons.

But even if they can reach their destination safely, they may not be able to adapt to the local living environment quickly. Phuket and Ceylon are hot and humid, and Fubo Port and Zhenhai Port are located on the edge of the desert, which are very unfamiliar to people living in China. Letting immigrants temporarily adapt to Xingdao, which has a tropical climate and relatively complete living conditions, for some time is a solution.

However, at this time, Qian Tiandun, who was in Phuket, finally learned the size of the fleet that was coming. This was not because Roger tipped him off, but because he had intelligence personnel deployed on Xingdao, sending messages to the special operations division headquarters from time to time.

The arrival of the fleet led by Shi Diwen at Xingdao caused such a big commotion that the local intelligence personnel lurking naturally had to submit a report to Qian Tiandun, but this news also surprised Qian Tiandun a little.

He thought that Shi Diwen might bring some resources to the special operations division, but he didn't expect there would be so many. It was said that there were thousands of immigrants alone, and there were dozens of ships of various materials about to be shipped to Phuket, and there were also a large number of businessmen who came specially to inspect.

This level of support is indeed not comparable to what Qian Tiandun could raise on his own. He worked hard for a whole year last year, but the number of immigrants he brought from China was not as many as what Shi Diwen sent at one time.

Qian Tiandun immediately summoned his son Qian Shaobao and ordered him to organize manpower and build a batch of sheds to accommodate the immigrants before the fleet arrived.

Qian Shaobao was puzzled and asked, "Didn't we just build more than a hundred huts? Even if thousands of people were sent here, we could temporarily accommodate them. Isn't that enough?"

Qian Tiandun smiled and said, "The news just came from Xingdao that the number of immigrants transported from China to our place is much greater than expected... It is estimated that there are three to four thousand people!"

Qian Shaobao was of course very clear about his own situation. Hearing this news, he was also very happy: "Three or four thousand people? It seems that the Executive Committee has finally begun to pay attention to our remote area!"

Qian Tiandun said with emotion: "It should be that our armed patrol this time played a role, and the establishment of the two new ports made the Executive Committee see the development prospects of the Western Front, so they were willing to inject resources into us."

Qian Shaobao nodded thoughtfully and said, "Then the greater our progress on the western front, the greater support the Executive Committee will give us?"

Qian Tiandun said: "That still depends on how much actual benefits we can create for the country. If we only maintain two ports with small trade volumes for a long time, it will be difficult to convince the Executive Committee to continue to invest resources in the western line."

"In short, our first priority now is to do a good job of reception and let the Executive Committee confirm that we have enough capabilities to manage more regions, so that subsequent resources can arrive."

Qian Shaobao understood and saluted: "I will go and supervise this matter personally!"

It was not an easy task to build sheds that could accommodate thousands of people in a short period of time. Moreover, most of the engineers of the Special Operations Division had been taken to Fubo Port by Gao Qiaomin to serve as the construction team. There were very few civil engineering personnel left in Phuket, so they had to use all of them to make up for the lack of quality with the quantity of labor.