1627 Rise of the South China Sea

Chapter 3802

The Japanese civil war is one of Shi Diwen’s important plans in the East China Sea. He needs such a war to plunge this restless neighbor into continuous internal friction, and at the same time force it to open its borders and allow Hai Han products to enter the local market without restrictions.

Of course, what is more important is to take this opportunity to cultivate a group of pro-Hai Han politicians and military personnel in Japan, so as to indirectly control the future development of the situation and eliminate this security risk for China in advance.

Over the past two years, Japan's warring parties have become a dumping market for Hai Han's low-end weaponry. Almost every month, large quantities of swords, bows, armor, muskets, and artillery are shipped to Japan in exchange for shiploads of silver ingots and hundreds of war refugees.

Of course, the shipyards in the East China Sea region that have fully utilized their production capacity have also benefited from this, with orders already scheduled for two or three years later. The East China Sea shipbuilding industry has also taken this opportunity to expand its production capacity. In the coastal areas of Zhejiang, more than 20 private shipyards have been newly built and listed this year alone.

Although these private shipyards may not have the qualifications and technical capabilities to build warships, they can easily build sea vessels of ordinary tonnage, and there is no problem in using them as cargo ships or even troop transports.

Due to Japan's island geographical environment, most military operations and material transportation are inseparable from the assistance of shipping. The only thing that can continuously provide ships to the warring parties is Hai Han's shipyard.

In this regard, the Tokugawa shogunate, which had stronger financial resources, was undoubtedly the more advantageous party. Relying on the advantage in the number of ships, it gradually controlled the Kanmon Strait leading to the Kyushu region.

However, the long and fruitless war had gradually made the areas ruled by the shogunate unable to bear the consumption of war. Some local daimyo began to intentionally or unintentionally resist the military tasks and tax increases assigned by the shogunate. The Japanese emperor in Kyoto also gradually became restless and tried to unite some local daimyo loyal to the royal family to take back power from the Tokugawa shogunate.

As a result, the number of enemies that the Tokugawa shogunate had to deal with increased due to the stalemate in the campaign against Kyushu. While sending troops to Kyushu, they had to also divide their forces to suppress the growing chaos at home.

Shi Chengxin said excitedly: "The amount of arms shipped from Zhoushan Port to Japan in the second half of this year has almost doubled compared to the same period last year. In order to protect themselves, many daimyo are desperately stockpiling war supplies to cope with the civil war that may soon break out."

"Based on the situation in the past two years, we predict that if a full-scale civil war breaks out, the sales of arms are expected to at least quadruple from the current scale! In addition, the supply of naturalized Japanese people, who are very popular in overseas regions, can also be increased."

There was nothing exaggerated in what Shi Chengxin said. Although the many feudal states in Japan were not wealthy and had limited purchasing power for arms, when pieced together they formed a sizeable arms market. Moreover, there were battlefields that could continue to consume the weapons and equipment sold from Hai Han. It could be said that it was a treasure trove in a sense.

The refugee population caused by the civil war was a considerable burden to all parties in Japan. With Hai Han's help in "solving" these burdens, not only could the refugees be accepted free of charge, but the population could even be exchanged for some military supplies. The feudal lords and daimyo were very happy about this, so cooperation in this area went very smoothly.

Now, about ten ships carrying refugees arrive at the refugee camp in Zhoushan every month. After a simple registration, they will be sent to overseas areas for resettlement.

The resettlement and transportation costs of these Japanese refugees are much lower than those of immigrants from Hai Han, and most of them are relatively docile women and children. Therefore, overseas regions are also very happy to accept these special immigrants.

For example, the special warfare division, which had tasted the sweetness of this, had already made an appointment with Shi Diwen to accept Japanese immigrants for a long time, and there was no upper limit. The more chaotic the situation in Japan, the easier it would be to complete this task. Shi Diwen pondered and said, "If a full-scale civil war breaks out in Japan, then we will have to gradually reduce our military aid to Japan, especially the free part. In the future, free projects will be changed to paid projects, and paid projects will be charged. Do you understand?"

Shi Chengwu bowed and agreed, obviously he understood this clearly.

Hai Han provided military training to local daimyo at the Sasebo base in Kyushu, Japan. There were indeed many free projects in the early stages, with the aim of cultivating legitimate officers in the local army and promoting the sales of arms.

This step has obviously achieved excellent results. Now any daimyo in Japan who wants to start a rebellion knows that they have to cling to Hai Han. Naturally, the related military aid projects have become a popular commodity, and it is time to recover the initial investment.

After asking about the situation in Japan, Shi Diwen asked Shi Chengxin if there were any events that required his attendance recently.

Shi Chengxin quickly responded, "There are indeed several events that require father's attendance, and the nearest one will be in three days."

As Shi Chengxin spoke, he pulled out a book from the pile of books at hand, opened it and handed it to Shi Diwen.

Shi Diwen looked closely and found that it was the groundbreaking ceremony for the Hangzhou-Nanjing Railway. As the governor of the East China Sea Region, he was obliged to appear at the launching ceremony of this major project.

The railway project currently underway in the Donghai region is the Hangzhou-Nanjing Railway, and the Hangzhou-Nanjing Railway is the second land artery planned in the Donghai region, connecting the two major cities of Hangzhou and Nanjing. This is indeed of great significance for consolidating the rule of the capital region and facilitating personnel and logistics exchanges between the two places.

The Hangzhou-Nanning Railway was funded 60% by the national treasury, and the remaining 40% was raised from the public in the form of bonds.

Although the total price of the railway bonds was not cheap, most of the bonds had actually been sold before Shi Diwen set out on his last inspection.

This is actually the same as the old days when local governments organized fundraising to repair bridges and roads. However, large subscribers of railway bonds can get direct approval from the central government and receive commendations from the executive committee. This is incomparable to the old days when local governments would just give out plaques to philanthropists.

What's more, there is a difference between bonds and donations. When the term is up, the principal and interest can be recovered together. In other words, you spend money to buy fame, and in the end the money can be transferred back into your own pocket. For rich people, this is a good opportunity to earn performance.

Many wealthy businessmen and celebrities in the Jiangsu and Zhejiang areas were eyeing this project, and they began to subscribe enthusiastically when the bonds were issued, in order to earn themselves a good reputation as patriots. The Yangzhou Salt Merchants Group directly subscribed to 20% of all the bonds, and if the Executive Committee had not come forward to dissuade them, these wealthy people would have even intended to subscribe to more.

The groundbreaking ceremony of the project naturally invited dozens of private guests who had contributed more money to participate in the ribbon-cutting ceremony with the executive committee. This was a great honor for them.