1627 Rise of the South China Sea

Chapter 3753

Several places under the jurisdiction of the Special Warfare Division have been in a state of population shortage for a long time, and Qian Tiandun is unwilling to lower the standards and introduce a large number of low-quality South Asians and black slaves. Now that he can get thousands of immigrants from East Asia at one time, it can be said to be a major gain for him.

Although at least 40% of them are war refugees from Japan, they are at least similar to the Han people in terms of genes, culture and living habits, and most of them are women and children. Qian Tiandun does not have to worry that these immigrants will become difficult to manage once they arrive here.

It can even be said without hesitation that the arrival of these special immigrants may be able to solve the problem of family establishment for the soldiers under Qian Tiandun to a certain extent.

A considerable number of soldiers in the special warfare division have not solved their personal marriage problems, and the environment they are in makes it difficult for them to contact women in China. If this continues, the morale of the army will definitely be affected. If this group of immigrants can alleviate this special problem, it will be more practical for Qian Tiandun than increasing military spending.

The impact of this did not even require waiting for the arrival of the immigrants. Just the announcement of the news was enough to boost the morale of the soldiers, who even began to work all night long to build sheds to accommodate the immigrants.

The fleet led by Shi Diwen stayed on Xingdao for a full week before setting off again.

However, there were still more than a hundred patients whose physical condition was unable to travel long distances by sea. Shi Diwen had no choice but to keep them in Xingdao to recuperate, and then try to take a boat to Phuket after they recovered.

Shi Diwen himself was actually just holding on. Although he went out to sea by ship every year and was relatively adaptable to the food and accommodation on the ship, most of the time he just patrolled the East China Sea near Zhoushan. The farthest he went was to Kyushu, Japan, and the distance was not much different from that from Hangzhou Bay to Fujian. He only spent three to five days at sea at most.

The destination of this voyage is west of the Strait of Malacca, and the distance is dozens of times longer than the patrol of the East China Sea. Even for experienced sailors who have been sailing on the sea for many years, it is not an easy task.

In the past thirty years since he traveled through time, Shi Diwen had never traveled so far on the sea. He was now nearly sixty years old, and even if he took good care of himself, his body was not as strong as when he was young. He had been on the ship for too long and was already exhausted.

It was Roger's suggestion to stay in Xingdao for a few more days, and Shi Diwen had agreed to it half-heartedly, and he could also take this opportunity to rest for a few more days. If he really had to leave within the original time limit, he really couldn't guarantee that he would not suddenly collapse on the way.

If he went in front of Qian Tiandun in a sickly state, the other party would inevitably look down on him, and it might even affect the authority of the Executive Committee. Shi Diwen would naturally try his best to avoid such a situation.

However, compared with the loss of personnel due to various reasons of illness, what gave Shi Diwen more headaches was actually the various problems that occurred on some ships on their way south.

He could require the ships of the official fleet to be prepared for various emergencies before departure, but he could not require civilian ships to meet such standards. As a result, many ships inevitably encountered various problems during the long journey and had to withdraw midway or find a nearby port for repairs.

After the fleet docked at Xingdao, more than forty ships requested maintenance from Xingdao Shipyard, and at least half of them needed to be put into dry dock for major repairs.

These ships that needed to be repaired in the dock naturally could not catch up with the next trip. Fortunately, Shi Diwen could use his personal relationship with Roger to temporarily mobilize several cargo ships belonging to Xingdao to transport the materials and personnel to the special warfare division.

Even so, some of the goods had to be temporarily stored in the warehouse of Xingdao due to insufficient transportation capacity, and transportation capacity would be arranged later. Fortunately, although there were some twists and turns along the way, the large force finally completed the last leg of the journey relatively smoothly, crossing the Strait of Malacca from south to north and arriving at Phuket, the current base of the special operations division.

Qian Tiandun and Shi Diwen had many experiences of fighting together in their early years, so they could be considered old acquaintances. Naturally, there were some warm greetings after they met.

In order to welcome the arrival of this special fleet, Qian Tiandun specially arranged a simple military parade at the dock so that Shi Diwen and others could inspect the special operations division as soon as they landed.

However, Shi Diwen immediately saw through Qian Tiandun's other intention: "Old Qian, you arranged this military parade at the dock to give the new immigrants a warning, right?"

After hearing what he said, Qian Tiandun did not deny it: "This should be the most intuitive and quickest way for new immigrants to understand the local situation."

Armed force is the most intuitive reflection of a country's national strength. Qian Tiandun wanted to make these immigrants realize that even on the outskirts of the empire that they had never heard of, there were powerful armies stationed there that could fully protect their personal and property safety.

Since the Special Operations Division moved south, it has been stationed in the tropical region for more than three years. Due to the strong ultraviolet rays, the skin color of the soldiers has gradually become closer to that of the local natives, and everyone is tanned.

However, compared with friendly forces from the country, the special operations division's troops are undoubtedly more visually oppressive, and just looking at their appearance gives people a feeling that they are very capable of fighting.

Of course, what makes friendly forces even more envious is the Special Operations Division’s unique weapons configuration in the Hai Han Army.

Whether it is individual weapons such as rifles and pistols, or heavy weapons such as artillery, the models equipped by the special operations division have always been ahead of the entire army.

Some of the new equipment were only trial-produced in small quantities and were specially provided to the special operations divisions for trial. Even Shi Diwen saw it for the first time.

He couldn't help but say with a hint of envy: "Old Qian, your ace troops are indeed worthy of their reputation. I don't know when these equipment will be equipped to my troops."

Qian Tiandun smiled and said, "For many of the new equipment you see, we are just testing them for the arsenal. Once they are finalized and put into mass production, they will naturally be equipped to the entire army."

Shi Diwen waved his hand and said, "Don't fool me. I know a little about the military industry system. Some high-end products cannot be mass-produced due to production capacity and cost issues. They can only be supplied to front-line troops in small batches. I can only envy the treatment of your special warfare division!"

Seeing this, Qian Tiandun took the initiative to change the subject and said, "If we talk about equipment, then your flagship has to be the best! When it passed through the Strait of Malacca, it must have attracted a lot of onlookers, right?"

Speaking of the Glorious-class battleship he built himself, Shi Diwen couldn't help but look pleased: "The Portuguese in Malacca even came to Sing Island for a visit. After we set out from Sing Island, several Portuguese ships followed us from the periphery until we left the strait."