1627 Rise of the South China Sea

Chapter 422 Step by step
It is actually nothing new for the Ming court to set aside a territory on Qiongzhou Island and give local forces the power of self-government.The government almost always exercised indirect jurisdiction over the Li and Miao villages all over the island by conferring officials and land, while the Lidong Miao villages were almost independent in their respective territories. Although the Kingdom still has to submit to the rule of the Ming Dynasty externally, its internal rule cannot be interfered with by the outside world.

As for the local rule of the Haihan people, the yellow bird can feel that the methods they adopt are different from those of the Li and Miao people.They are promoting their own set of rules and systems, but they cooperate very well with the Ming government. They are not as tense as Han Li and Han Miao—to be precise, the dominant party in this cooperative relationship It wasn't Daming, but the seemingly relatively weak Haihan.Huang Que couldn't imagine what it would be like if Shi Zidong took the initiative in dealing with Daming.

Huang Que didn't know much about Hai Han's strength at this time, so for him, it was beyond his knowledge that Hai Han, who existed as a local tycoon, could create such a strange symbiotic relationship with the Ming government. .But even though he has not been in Shengli Port for a long time, everything he saw in front of him has been reminding him that Haihan is by no means such a simple organization as the Han Chamber of Commerce he has seen in Changhua and Danzhou before. , the areas ruled by the Haihan people have a social system and ethos that are clearly different from those of Daming, and Daming's acquiescence to the existence of Haihan is intensifying the speed of the external expansion of this local force all the time.

In the following time, Fu Li was not in a hurry to take Huang Que to visit the military camp to let him feel the strength of Haihan's force, but followed Ning Qi's suggestion to take Huang Que to visit the school not far from Victory Fort.Different from the student composition in the early days, Shengligang Primary School now has not only the children of a few timetravelers, but also many Han, Li, Miao and even Annan school-age children.Of course, apart from the descendants of the traversers, most of these students’ family backgrounds are naturalized citizens, and there are also a very small number of children of foreign merchants. However, this part of the foreign population is admitted to the school run by Haihan. The cost is not low.

Huang Que seems to feel her childhood again here, recalling the scene of studying in a Han private school in Changhua County.At that time, besides Han children, there were also mountain people from the Li and Miao ethnic groups who were able to read and write together.Of course, Li and Miao's children who are able to go out of the mountains to study in the county are at least the privileged class like the descendants of Dongzhu.For example, Huang Que, a next-generation successor candidate who is favored by Dongzhu, will often be sent to the Han people's territory to learn some cultural knowledge during the school age. In the process of dealing with the government, there may be disadvantages.

However, the school of the Haihan people is obviously different from the private school Huang Que attended when he was young. First of all, the content taught here is not a subset of classics and history such as the Four Books and Five Classics, but literacy textbooks compiled by the Haihan people themselves.And the courses are not limited to literacy, arithmetic, common sense, and even military-related subjects, all of which are arranged in this school.

"If you are interested in the courses here, after you move out, you can sign up to study here." Seeing that the yellow bird was silent for a long time while looking at the children in the classroom, Fu Li introduced him: " The courses we open are not just for children, but also have corresponding teaching content for adults."

Huang Que turned her head and asked, "My lord? Are you also learning to read?"

"Besides literacy, there are many things to learn!" Fu Li continued: "For example, how to grow more food in the soil, how to build ships, how to smelt iron, how to do things with people from other places Business... the heads of Haihan have opened many courses, all for the purpose of enabling the common people to live a better life."

"Then why do the Haihan chiefs teach these skills to ordinary people? If they are in their own hands, wouldn't they make everyone obey?" Huang Que asked puzzled.

"What the chiefs want is not everyone's obedience, but the continuous strength of Haihan as a group!" Fu Li patiently explained to him: "If every household in Lidong has enough food and sharp weapons, And well-trained warriors, what do you think the future holds for this cave?"

"That will definitely become a big cave within hundreds of miles!" Huang Que blurted out, and then realized the true meaning of Fu Li's metaphor: "So the chiefs of Haihan pass on the knowledge they have mastered to the common people, So that the Haihan Executive Committee can become the ruler of this area one day?"

"It's not only Chief Haihan who rules this area, but also ordinary people like you and me." Fu Li's political lessons at the time were undoubtedly quite solid, and he has a good grasp of the scale of this kind of propaganda: "The executive committee of Haihan only represents the people to make decisions. The decisions made by the executive committee are beneficial to all the people. If you are smart enough to be as talented as the heads of Haihan, then you There is also the possibility of joining the executive committee!"

Although Huang Que didn't quite understand the concept of Haihan's ruling system, the analogy Fu Li used helped him understand the role of Haihan's executive committee—although it sounds mysterious, the executive committee It turned out to be exercising the ruling power on behalf of ordinary people, but as what Fu Li said was verified by the facts bit by bit, Huang Que gradually began to choose to believe in these temporarily incomprehensible phenomena and concepts, Instead of constantly questioning.

While Fu Li traveled around with the oriole and brainwashed it, the plan to develop Shilu has also entered the formal preparation stage.According to the plan formulated by the Ministry of Construction, a land passage from the Changhua fishing village to the inland Shizidong mining area must be completed first, so that various materials, building materials and production tools can be transported to the mining area, and the preliminary construction of the mining area must be completed.

Although most of the areas on the way are uninhabited areas, which do not involve troublesome things such as land acquisition and demolition, and the plain terrain where it passes greatly reduces the difficulty of construction and road construction, but only the length of the passage on this road In terms of road construction, it is the longest road construction project undertaken by the Ministry of Construction after crossing.The straight-line distance from Changhua Fishing Port to the mining operation area is nearly 50 kilometers long. The amount of this project is almost four times that of the original construction of the Shengli Port-Tiandu Land Corridor, and one of them must be crossed. The narrowest point is about [-] meters in the tributary of the Changhua River, which means that the construction department probably has to build a strong bridge along the way.

After the construction of this traffic artery is completed, it is only the beginning. With the development of the mining area, a railway is bound to be needed to improve the transportation efficiency between Shilu and the coast.In addition, after the Shilu mining area is put into production, at least thousands of miners will be stationed there to work, and the corresponding living facilities must also be built in advance.In addition, in order to make more efficient use of the clean coal from the nearby Heitu Port, building a large steel base near Changhua has become one of the logical development steps.

Given the current construction conditions, such a huge engineering plan cannot be completed within a year or a half.According to the estimates of the executive committee, the Ministry of Industry, the Ministry of Construction and other departments, it can be regarded as a miracle of super-level performance if the road construction can be completed within one year and full production can be realized within two years.During the entire construction period, the executive committee needs at least three to 4000 laborers here. It is necessary for the executive committee to settle so many people in an indirect rule area for a long time and carry out corresponding construction tasks. It is also a great test for the organization and coordination ability of relevant departments.

The executive committee's emphasis on this project and the intensity of investing resources have even far exceeded the period when the black soil port was developed.After all, the mining site of Heitu Port is very close to the coastline. In addition to the difficulty of crossing the sea for development, the difficulty of local construction is not as high as that of the Shilu project.Tao Donglai, as the head of the Ministry of Construction, is personally in charge of this project construction task, but his responsibility is still mainly to coordinate the cooperation between various departments, and the second-in-command Liu Shanxia will be the second-in-command of the project on site.

Time soon came to the end of May, and the executive committee finally sent the first fleet to Changhua.The engineering personnel carried by this fleet are not going to build roads, but to expand the wharf in Changhua Fishing Port, build warehouses, trestles, collective residences and other preliminary facilities, and lay a good foundation for subsequent projects.

This engineering team will spend a month in Changhua Fishing Port to build these facilities, and then the base camp will send a large force to the place to start building roads leading to the inland area.

On June [-], a fleet of twelve large boats arrived in Changhua. Under the slightly surprised gazes of the fishermen, not only a few familiar faces they had seen before, but also a large number of people with live ammunition Haihan soldiers in gray clothes.These Haihan soldiers quickly formed a team after landing, and spread out in three directions, north, east, and south, and set up an outer warning circle within three miles nearby.

Then Liu Shanxia, ​​the on-site commander of the project, read the notice from the Haihan Executive Committee to the stunned fishermen, saying that this place had been temporarily requisitioned by the Executive Committee, and all residents had to move to other areas to live in accordance with the project arrangement.If there are those who are unwilling to cooperate, the Haihan militia will take corresponding measures to ensure the smooth progress of the local project.

When the fishermen were uneasy and didn't know whether to resist or obey, Liu Shanxia announced another good news that cheered them up—all local residents who are willing to cooperate will be eligible to settle in Sanya. And it is possible to obtain the qualifications for Haihan naturalized citizens in a short period of time.

The fishermen living in Changhua Fishing Port have already learned about the development of Haihan in Sanya through various channels. It would be a lie to say that these people have no intention of moving their nests at all, but they live here. Being able to get the benefits of the Haihan people from time to time, life can still go on. No one would take the initiative to leave their hometown to seek a life in a strange area unless it is absolutely necessary.This time, the arrival of the Haihan people immediately announced the forced demolition, but it also gave the few residents here a chance to choose a new way of life.

Of course, if there are people who do not want to go to Sanya, the executive committee also gives them the opportunity to choose their own destination, but they are not allowed to enter within a few miles around the fishing port.Before the construction of the entire Shilu coal-iron complex industrial belt is completed, the area of ​​Changhua Port will become a strict military control zone. You can no longer enter or leave this place casually until the government approves it.

This may seem a little unreasonable, but in order to make the project go smoothly and prevent problems in the logistics support channel, the Executive Committee believes that this small trick must be used.For this reason, the Military Commission sent two militia companies to participate in the first batch of construction teams to Changhua Port.They will be responsible for the task of martial law on the periphery of the port area. At the same time, if there are some disharmonious factors on the side of Changhua County, the militia of these two companies may take more drastic measures, such as taking down the Changhua County. actual control.

The Ministry of Construction also mobilized its subordinates for this big project. Fortunately, there are no large-scale engineering projects in progress in Sanya recently, and the development and construction of the new urban area is progressing smoothly. The Ministry of Construction has also been able to spare part of the construction team to participate in Changhua Port. coming under construction.

But even so, the Executive Committee did not forget to spare some time for development work in other areas, that is, several ports located on the southeast coast of the Indochina Peninsula.These places had been favored by the Executive Committee early on, and they proposed to the North Vietnamese court to use these places as post-war compensation before dispatching troops to Hue.Although the agreement was reached in the name of the concession, both the executive committee and the North Vietnamese court knew very well that the ownership of these lands would probably be changed to "Hai Han" from now on, but out of consideration for the interests of the strategic alliance, Both sides had a tacit understanding and did not bring relevant topics to the table for discussion—the Beiyue sent it silently, and Haihan just accepted it without saying a word.

After taking these places, Haihan was able to successfully control the vast sea area from the east coast of the Indochina Peninsula to the south of Malacca, Java, and Borneo, almost covering the main shipping routes for western merchant ships to China through the coast of the Indochina Peninsula. In this way, the springboard can be paved for the next step to control several throats in the South China Sea.However, there are still many practical difficulties in developing these ports that already belong to Haihan in name.

(End of this chapter)