1627 Rise of the South China Sea

Chapter 3755

After watching the special operations division receiving immigrants, Shi Diwen commented that it was simple, orderly and efficient. Gao Huan called it "an excellent example of militarized management", and Tian Yeyou praised it, saying it was the smoothest immigrant reception operation he had ever seen.

It took only one day to complete the initial resettlement of more than 4,000 newly arrived immigrants. Such efficiency would be an achievement worthy of boasting by the officials in charge in any overseas colony, but Qian Tiandun was accustomed to it and thought it was just basic operation.

This is of course related to the experience of the Special Operations Division during its early years of stationing in the north, where tens of thousands of immigrants were received from Shandong, Liaodong and other places in the Ming Dynasty every year through various means. How to register such a large number of immigrants, resettle them, assign them jobs, and even incorporate them into the national management system, the Special Operations Division gradually explored a set of effective solutions.

"There is no trick, just practice obedience to the extreme."

Qian Tiandun did not hide anything about this and immediately shared his experiences with Shi Diwen and others.

He observed in his early years that the main reason for the low efficiency of resettlement is the lack of "compliance". The staff responsible for resettlement of immigrants cannot fully follow the prescribed procedures, and the immigrants who accept resettlement also have many problems and even pick and choose the resettlement conditions, which often slows down the entire process.

Qian Tiandun then led the team personally to reorganize the immigration resettlement process, then replaced the persons in charge of each link with military officers, and formulated response measures for various possible situations.

The remaining work is to implement the four words "military orders are as heavy as mountains" in the process of immigrant resettlement. Not only must the soldiers involved obey orders 100%, but even the immigrants must follow the requirements of obeying orders.

Of course, this is too much to ask of a complex immigrant group, but after strengthening the management of all aspects of immigrant resettlement, very good results have been achieved.

Qian Tiandun certainly would not be lenient towards those who disobeyed his management. He would catch a few typical disobedient people and punish them in public. The influence of killing a chicken to scare the monkeys often outweighed the bitter persuasion of the staff.

This group of immigrants who had just arrived in Phuket was no exception. Although most of them were women and children, there were still some troublemakers who would not obey orders, clamoring for the authorities to immediately fulfill their conditions such as allocating houses and land and paying resettlement fees, or they were unwilling to live temporarily in low shacks.

In this situation, Qian Tiandun didn't need to give any instructions. The soldiers dragged the person who disobeyed orders out of the team and beat him on the head with a whip. Immediately, there was no more questioning voices.

An officer stood up and shouted at the silent immigrants around him: "You won't listen to nice words, but you will understand when the whip says something, right? I say it again, this is a military restricted area, all actions must be under command! Anyone who disobeys orders will be dealt with according to military law!"

This beating undoubtedly shattered many immigrants' fantasies about their new home. The good treatment and the land of plenty became a bubble. It seemed that the destination they had traveled so long to reach was not as beautiful as they had initially heard.

Although this method is simple and crude, the effect is quite significant. At least the immigrants who have witnessed the whole process will not have any other thoughts in a short period of time, and will also understand the importance of obeying orders.

Qian Tiandun was not worried that such a move would provoke resistance from the immigrants. Of course, his methods were not limited to this. Later, there would be immigrants who settled down earlier to explain the local rules and production arrangements to these new immigrants, so that these new immigrants would know what they need to pay and what they can get here. The various conditions promised by the government before they set off were not unfulfilled, but the time point could not be so fast, and these immigrants must first prove to the local government with practical actions that they are worthy of the various preferential treatments that the government will provide.

The next day, Qian Tiandun took Shi Diwen and his party to continue visiting the local production situation.

For the special operations division that has set up its headquarters in Phuket, local products are the main source of daily supplies. Therefore, since the occupation of Phuket two years ago, agricultural development has become the main business on the island.

Although nearly half of Phuket is mountainous, it is large enough to still have enough land for cultivating farmland and growing food crops.

In addition to the large-scale cultivation of rice, there are also trials of growing corn, potatoes and other food crops that are easier to care for and can be used as raw materials for deep processing.

According to Qian Tiandun, as long as the country can provide this side with a stable supply of high-quality seeds and agricultural technical guidance, the food crops produced in Phuket alone can meet the needs of several areas under the jurisdiction of the special operations division.

In addition to food crops, the island has begun to promote the planting of rubber forests and sugarcane fields, which are the main cash crops of the local area. The rubber products and sugarcane processed from them are also valuable and popular goods in Hai Han.

This time, Gao Huan came to Phuket as a representative of the Ministry of Agriculture and brought a lot of seedlings of economic crops, such as pepper, kapok, oil palm, etc., to help the special operations division produce more agricultural products in its jurisdiction.

If Hai Han’s colonies in the Indian Ocean region want to develop cross-border trade based on local production, agricultural products with lower thresholds are the best choice at this stage.

Qian Tiandun also agreed with the Executive Committee's arrangement. After all, the Special Operations Division's jurisdiction had no industrial base. Even if they wanted to exploit oil in the Arabian Peninsula in the future, it would take at least several years of construction.

The projects that can be quickly started and generate profits at present are precisely these seemingly ordinary agricultural products and deep processing industrial chains.

Shi Diwen told Qian Tiandun that according to the latest arrangements of the Executive Committee, the Special Operations Division's current several jurisdictions will not need to pay taxes to the country within five years. In other words, all local fiscal revenues during this period will be managed by the Special Operations Division itself, which will undoubtedly provide a relief to the Special Operations Division's stretched budget.

As for the construction funds that these jurisdictions will receive, Shi Diwen said that he would not let Qian Tiandun down, because the Executive Committee has made up its mind to open up the Maritime Silk Road within ten years and establish a sphere of influence belonging to Hai Han along the way.

Qian Tiandun was a little surprised by this. He thought that the Executive Committee would have to go through a bargaining process over his plan, but he did not expect that the trade route would be directly elevated to the level of the Maritime Silk Road.

Once westward expansion becomes the national policy in the next stage, the resources and policy support that the special operations division will receive should be much greater than in previous years.