1627 Rise of the South China Sea

Chapter 3951

Li Fa kept his word and indeed brought back more news about the hot air balloon within two days.

According to information gathered by Li Fa, two sets of hot air balloons were sent to the Jiangxi battlefield. The main components were produced by the First Machinery Factory and Haihan Petrochemical in Sanya, and the Nanhai Textile Factory in Danzhou, respectively, and then assembled and debugged in Sanya.

The operators and maintenance personnel of the hot air balloons are all under the military's command. It is said that a special flight company has been established for this purpose, the number of which is unknown, but the personnel who went to the Jiangxi battlefield before should be about a platoon.

From the development of equipment to the training of personnel, the preparation and formation of this special team has taken at least ten years, and it is not a miracle that suddenly appeared recently.

However, information regarding the hot air balloon's production capacity, cost, and deployment plans remains highly confidential, and no one has dared to inform Li Fa yet, making it impossible to speculate when the special operations division will receive this new equipment.

Li Yuande listened quietly to his father's explanation without rushing to express his opinion.

He was somewhat disappointed, as the information he had gathered so far would offer very limited help to the special operations division. However, since this information was classified as military secret, he was well aware of the potentially serious consequences of rashly inquiring about it.

Li Fa guessed what his son was thinking and comforted him, saying, "Chen Pingliao is currently at the National Defense University. When you meet him in a few days, you might as well ask him. Perhaps he will have more accurate information."

Li Yuande nodded in agreement; this was one of the few connections he had in Hangzhou.

Li Yuande was sent to study in Sanya by his family in his early years, where he met Chen Pingliao, who was also studying in Sanya at the time, in a social setting. When he learned that Chen Pingliao had a very close relationship with his idol, Qian Tiandun, he took the initiative to befriend him.

However, the two didn't have many opportunities to interact at the time, and could only be considered nodding acquaintances. Many years later, Li Yuande finally got his wish and joined Qian Tiandun's team.

The hot air balloon flights over Baoshi Mountain did not continue; they only appeared once and then disappeared. This left those who had come specifically from the surrounding areas of Hangzhou to see this spectacle disappointed, and they could only listen to locals boast about the wonders of the hot air balloons during their leisure time.

Public attention quickly returned to the war benefits brought by the capture of Jiangxi. News from the area indicated that the supply of goods in many regions had been disrupted due to the war.

This was certainly bad news for the people of Jiangxi, but a huge business opportunity for merchants. Merchants flocked from Jiangsu and Zhejiang to Jiangxi with money and goods, hoping to get a share of the local market.

This led to a significant increase in shipping costs to the upper reaches of the Yangtze River, and in Hangzhou, a commercial center, it was extremely difficult to book a boat, with the Grand Canal completely packed with various fleets.

The boat Li Yuande used on his journey north to Hangzhou only stayed a few days longer on the Qiantang River before people started approaching the captain to inquire whether they could rent the idle boat to transport goods up the Yangtze River. If Jiangxi was too far, they could also unload the goods in Zhenjiang via the Grand Canal and return.

The ship Li Yuande brought to Hangzhou was indeed quite large; it was a civilian model of an expedition-class sailing vessel, with a displacement exceeding five hundred tons. However, this ship was not idle while moored on the banks of the Qiantang River; various supplies procured locally were continuously loaded onto it every day.

Li Yuande estimated that the ship's cargo hold would be full before it even reached the return journey south. Hangzhou, as one of the important sea outlets for the Jiangsu and Zhejiang regions, was a hub for products from several nearby provinces, and Li Yuande's main purchases were mostly handicrafts that had undergone complex processing.

These kinds of goods, when shipped to the Middle East and Europe, become high-end luxury items that local elites compete to buy, generating substantial profits. Li Yuande, having come all this way to Hangzhou, naturally wouldn't leave empty-handed.

However, Li Yuande did not personally purchase these goods, but instead had Qionglian act as a go-better supplier to obtain the most favorable prices and readily available stock.

Of course, this favor wasn't done for nothing. When Li Yuande went to Hangzhou, he handed over a batch of high-quality gemstones from Ceylon to Li Fa, asking Qiong Lianfa to sell them on his behalf. This way, Li Fa could also do the accounting and give the shareholders an explanation.

During the buying and selling process, Li Yuande also took the time to meet with some of the sons of salt merchants who would later accompany him to the Indian Ocean.

As someone who had followed Qian Tiandun for four years, Li Yuande could explain in detail to these newcomers the situation in the special operations division's jurisdiction, as well as their main responsibilities and work after taking office as local officials. This was definitely a valuable first-hand information.

"If you all want to make a difference in this area, remember three things. First, military orders are like mountains and cannot be disobeyed. You must strictly follow the orders issued by the Special Operations Division Command, and all local government orders must prioritize the interests of the Special Operations Division."

"Secondly, we must attach great importance to civil affairs. Many of the areas under your jurisdiction after taking office are still uncivilized, with a relatively low proportion of Han people. Applying domestic governance methods may not be applicable, so we need to put more effort into them."

"Finally, trade and commerce development is your strength, but also the local weakness. How to develop industries locally and turn these undeveloped areas into trading ports to attract merchants and immigrants from all over the world will be your most important task."

The three suggestions given by Li Yuande were also his deepest insights from serving under Qian Tiandun for several years. Although he himself did not serve as a local official, he had witnessed almost the entire process of how the special forces division developed and constructed these areas after their occupation, so he placed high hopes on these young men from salt merchants who were about to take up their posts.

However, Li Yuande had no way of knowing whether these people could adapt to the local environment and become qualified local officials.

But one thing he was certain of was that these sons of salt merchants were backed by the most powerful conglomerates in the Jiangzhe region. When they joined the Special Forces Division, the commercial resources they could bring to the local area would be far beyond what ordinary officials could ever achieve.

The most likely scenario is that these new officials, upon arriving in the area, will make a strong first impression by investing their own money in local industries and developing specialty products for trade within their jurisdiction.

Qian Tiandun was certainly happy to see this happen. The special operations division's jurisdiction along the Indian Ocean coast is very scattered. To effectively govern it, in addition to military means, there must also be a strong chain of interests connecting these areas.

The more commercial resources the sons of salt merchants bring, the faster the local development and construction will naturally be, and the results will definitely be far better than the special operations division fighting alone.

(End of this chapter)