1627 Rise of the South China Sea

Chapter 3958

This meeting between Chen Pingliao and Li Yuande essentially finalized the various matters they would jointly handle before leaving Hangzhou.

Although Li Yuande had reminded Chen Pingliao that he didn't need to buy too many supplies along the way and could replenish them after arriving in Sanya, there were still many things that needed to be arranged before departure.

For example, the fleet heading south this time will consist of multiple ships from the North Sea Fleet, the salt merchant fleet, and the Furuifeng fleet. So, how to coordinate this mixed fleet and ensure unified command and dispatch during the journey requires all matters to be decided before departure.

In addition, large fleets like these need to contact the ports they need to stop at in advance after setting sail. This is to ensure that there are berths available upon arrival and to allow local suppliers to prepare the necessary supplies in advance, saving time on loading and unloading cargo at the port.

However, with the guidance of Li Yuande, an expert, Chen Pingliao was able to save a lot of effort and no longer needed to worry about everything.

Of course, Chen Pingliao was not idle during this period. He had finally come to Hangzhou, so he made the most of his time to visit more temples and burn more incense, trying to gain more favors for the Northern Region. This was also one of the reasons why Chen Yixin sent him out to gain experience.

As September drew to a close, just before Chen Pingliao and Li Yuande were about to leave Hangzhou, another major event occurred.

The front page of the Haihan Times published the latest resolution of the Executive Committee, which will implement a new policy called "Western Development". However, this "western" does not refer to the Ming Dynasty's territory west of Haihan's homeland, but specifically to Haihan's overseas colonies.

Specifically, this refers to the vast area west of the Strait of Malacca in the South China Sea, which includes the islands of Phuket, Langkawi, and Penang, currently under the jurisdiction of the Special Operations Division; Hamban Port in southern Ceylon; Fubo Port in the Persian Gulf; and Zhenhai Port in the Red Sea.

Strictly speaking, the territory of the Shihu Kingdom, which existed as a vassal state of Haihan on the Arabian Peninsula, also fell under the jurisdiction of the Special Operations Division.

The Executive Committee's new policy measures grant special operations divisions various privileges, including the right to appoint and dismiss officials, collect taxes, and recruit and expand troops within their jurisdictions. This is almost equivalent to the treatment of overseas regions.

Although the Special Operations Division's operations in the Indian Ocean region had largely followed this standard in the preceding years, it lacked legitimacy and was not suitable for public announcement. Now, with direct authorization from the Executive Committee, it signifies a significant increase in the level of importance attached to it.

In addition to these privileges, the Executive Committee will provide more practical support to the "Western Region" in areas such as finance, infrastructure, culture and education, and military affairs, and will also support the construction of industrial and agricultural projects suitable for the local environment.

Regarding the Special Forces Division's military operations in the region, which were primarily aimed at expansion, the newspaper article did not elaborate on the Executive Committee's support measures in much detail. It only vaguely mentioned that the areas occupied by the Special Forces Division in the past and in the future would be incorporated into the Haihan territory.

"It's a good thing, but not good enough."

This was Li Yuande's assessment after reading the newspaper. In his view, it was nothing more than saving the special operations division some procedural troubles and bringing some things that were originally being done in secret into the open.

As for when those support measures would be implemented, Li Yuande wasn't entirely optimistic. In the past few years, the Special Operations Division had submitted reports to the Executive Committee requesting assistance at least twenty or thirty times, but only a handful had received a response and seen any concrete results. Chen Pingliao, however, held a much higher opinion of this new policy. He believed that Shi Diwen's expedition to the Middle East last year was actually a prelude to the Executive Committee's new policy. After Shi Diwen confirmed certain details of concern to the Executive Committee, this new policy should have already been put on the agenda.

With this new policy, all the restrictions that previously bound the special operations division were lifted. Now Qian Tiandun could act without any scruples and could send troops as long as the money and supplies were in place.

Chen Pingliao believes that Qian Tiandun's plan to attack and occupy the Suez Canal region, as well as the subsequent canal project planning, are all closely related to the "Western Development" strategy.

It seems that the senior members of the Executive Committee are quite tight-lipped. Chen Pingliao went to various government offices to report on his work some time ago and met with several high-ranking officials of the Executive Committee, including when he met Shi Diwen at the Shi residence after leaving the National Defense University. Yet, none of them revealed this matter to him in advance.

The executive committee didn't give any advance notice of this new policy; instead, they launched a surprise announcement without warning, which was indeed unusual. Chen Pingliao even suspected that even if his father knew the content of the new policy, he might not have known the exact timing of the announcement, otherwise why wouldn't he have given him a heads-up beforehand?

After Chen Pingliao and Li Yuande met and discussed the matter, they came to two conclusions.

One possibility is to prevent other countries, especially European countries, from getting advance notice and causing trouble in the Middle East, thus hindering the expansion of special operations divisions.

So-called partners, including Portugal and the Netherlands, are unlikely to stand idly by and watch Haihan steal their trade share in the Indian Ocean. These European countries may not have the strength to fight a special operations division head-on, but they are incredibly adept at sabotaging from behind the scenes.

Another possibility is that it was a deliberate act to provide additional protection for salt merchants going overseas, giving these major investors a period of protection so that they could gain an advantage in local industrial investments.

By the time others realized the business opportunity, they had to find connections to contact special operations divisions overseas, which would take a considerable amount of time. By the time later arrivals were figuring out how to get there, the first group of salt merchants' sons who had gone overseas should have already arrived.

The latter possibility sounds absurd at first, but upon closer examination, it does have some basis.

The national treasury of Haihan is currently short of resources to support the Special Forces Division's future operations, which is why it tacitly allows the division to issue bonds domestically to raise military funds. This time, the Yangzhou salt merchants not only handed over their ancestral businesses but also provided funds and personnel to support the Special Forces Division overseas, demonstrating a high level of cooperation. Giving them some extra "rewards" is therefore reasonable.

This practice is not without precedent. In the early stages of development in several other overseas regions, many businesses also received similar special treatment, including Li Yuande's Furuifeng Trading Company.

As expected, the announcement caused quite a stir among the people of Jiangsu and Zhejiang. Many astute individuals quickly realized that the establishment of a new overseas region was probably already in the process of being initiated. If they waited until everything was settled before taking action, they would probably only be able to pick up the scraps left by others.

(End of this chapter)