1627 Rise of the South China Sea

Chapter 449 The Deterrent Power of Word of Mouth
Although the two have a clear division of labor and are responsible for a specific area of ​​work, in the final analysis, Maliko can only manage Guangdong, while He Xi's authority can set foot in all areas that Haihan's forces can reach—even in distant places. Batavia, a Nanyang intelligence station in its infancy stage, is also under the administration of the Ministry of Security led by He Xi.

Coupled with the special nature of the intelligence department's pervasiveness and omnipotence, Maliko, the head of the Guangzhou Office, could no longer hold He Xi as firmly as he did during the Cliff Office.Fortunately, He Xi is not a person who likes to fight for power and profit. In fact, he has a clear view of his political status. Due to the special nature of the security and intelligence department, this supervisory position is very likely to be the pinnacle of his future political career. ——After all, the situation of being able to transform from the head of the intelligence department to the leader of the country like Putin in another time and space cannot be replicated, unless he is willing to give up his own job in the future to follow the path of a professional politician.

However, He Xi didn't want to lose what he was doing. A large part of the reason why he chose to join the time-traveling operation was that he hoped to get a stage where he could play freely and build the intelligence empire in his mind.At that time, several members of the organizing committee who presided over the operation did indeed give He Xi a very large authority after coming to this time and space, giving him the opportunity to build Haihan's exclusive intelligence agency from scratch.For He Xi, security and intelligence work is far more attractive than pure politics. What's more, the top-level structure of Haihan's bureaucratic system has stabilized. will be relatively stable and unlikely to undergo major changes.

Therefore, there is no conflict of political interests between Maliko and He Xi at present. Instead, they are tied together because of the importance and particularity of the Guangzhou Office. The relationship between the two is much more harmonious than it was in Yacheng.Maliko wisely left most of the foreign affairs dealing with the Guangdong government to He Xi, and he only focused on business and immigration. If he personally participated in the negotiation process, the success or failure of this matter would still be counted as his share.Therefore, Maliko also showed little concern for the negotiation process last night.

"But it's not all bad news. Although Liu Qian hasn't let go, he hasn't made it clear that it can't be done. There should be a chance." He Xi was not completely disappointed with the progress of his work yesterday.

"Even if he can't do this, he may deliberately drag you down in order to take advantage of you." Maiko reminded.

"There is indeed such a possibility." He Xi nodded and admitted Maiko's statement: "But I think if he just intends to cheat some money from us, he should weigh the consequences of doing so in advance, after all, offending Our people, often the results are not too good."

Haihan people are good at predicting the rumors of changes in the sky. They have been spread among the people since they first landed in Guangdong the year before last, and then the change of the throne of the Ming Dynasty, the sudden collapse of the eunuch party in its heyday, the replacement of the governor of Guangdong and Guangxi, and other major events have all been verified. This mysterious ability of the Haihan people.Although very few people actually got first-hand information from Hai Han, it was precisely because of this that the effect of these rumors was even more miraculous after being spread among the people.Especially in the upper class of Guangdong, quite a lot of people believe that the Haihan people do possess some special abilities that can predict the future—this is naturally the reason why the Li family vigorously touted it.

Rumors like these were spread one after another, and after a long time, it gradually became a common folk opinion, that is, the ability of the Haihan people is enough to make them turn bad luck into good fortune, and make disaster auspicious. Anyone who wants to talk to them Those who do the right thing will inevitably be inexplicably unlucky.And this statement has been connected with various major events in Guangdong in the past two years to prove its reliability.

For example, Wei Zhongxian, who suddenly fell from power after the change of the throne, is said to be because the members of the Eunuch party paid tribute to Wei Eun in order to get the limited-sale Haihan specialties. We all know how it turned out.The eunuchs, who were in power for a while, were all investigated by the new emperor Chongzhen from Wei Zhongxian down. Wei Zhongxian, who was once known as "nine thousand years old", also hanged himself on the way back to Beijing because he was accused of ten crimes.Moreover, he was not forgiven by the emperor after his death. Chongzhen issued an order to dismember Wei Zhongxian, hang his head in Hejian Mansion for public display, and his party members were also investigated and dealt with.At that time, there were twenty or thirty people who were pulled down from the officialdom in Guangdong and Guangxi because of their involvement in the eunuch party.

As for the governor of Guangdong and Guangxi, Li Fengjie, who was dismissed by the court for no reason, wasn't it because his eldest son had a conflict with the third son Li, who had a close personal relationship with the Haihan people, and fought in a restaurant?In the eyes of the common people, Mr. Li's sudden resignation is actually a typical example of a bully cheating on his father, provoking people who shouldn't be provoked.At that time, when the "Fu Ruifeng" Li family publicly stated that they would not bow their heads to the governor's office, many people believed that Li Jifeng challenged the governor of Guangdong and Guangxi to seek his own death. The newly sent governor, Mr. Wang, is said to have a good friendship with Li Jifeng's family.If it is said that the Haihan people have not intervened in the middle of the matter, no one will believe it at all. Besides, Li Jifeng himself has said on different occasions that the booming business of "Furuifeng" in the past two years came from the guidance of an expert. Isn't the expert with the closest relationship with "Fu Ruifeng" the Haihan people who claim to be the best at doing business in Guangdong, Guangxi and Qiongzhou Island?
In addition, there are some things that Haihan did not predict at all, and a consensus has been reached among the people that Haihan did it on purpose.For example, Lijiazhuang was besieged by multiple rogues in the previous year. This incident was originally an emergency, but because the Haihan militia arrived in time to provide military support, and in the end they played a horrific one-sided victory, many people thought afterwards that The Haihan people had already expected that something would happen to Lijiazhuang, so they set up traps and dug a hole in advance to wait for the rogues to attack, and thus won such a big victory that even the officials had nothing to say.

In short, in the past two or three years, anyone who provokes Haihan will end up with nothing good to say, and once this kind of thing becomes a pattern, it will still have a strong deterrent effect on people's hearts.That's why He Xi dared to give Mariko a guarantee, thinking that the other party didn't have enough courage to play tricks with him.

"However, Mr. Liu can afford it, but we can't afford it. Although the executive committee is not urging it on the surface, have you noticed the official document sent this time? It says 'in order to formulate next year's military budget as soon as possible' According to last year's rules, the budget should be released in October and November, so we only need two or three months to implement it, which is a bit tight to say!" Maiko said anxiously.

"That's why I asked Gong Shiqi to hurry back from Qingyuan." He Xi didn't appear to be in a hurry: "When necessary, we can still use some unconventional means, such as finding a way to dig out this Master Liu's dark history."

"He's an outsider, so I'm afraid it's not easy to dig out this dark history!" Maiko questioned He Xi's statement.

"It doesn't matter, if we really can't find it, we can help him create some black history." He Xi seemed to have a plan in mind: "If he doesn't cooperate, we will find a way to make him bad, so that he can't stay in Guangzhou."

Upon hearing this, Maliko stopped asking further questions.Since He Xi said that there is a way, it can definitely be done. As for the specific method, Maliko didn't want to find out - He Xi said it was an unconventional method, so there must be something that violates ordinary principles .Although Maiko is not considered a mental cleanser, he doesn't want to know the shady things of the intelligence agency.

After the two reached a basic agreement on this topic, they began to deal with the next official business.Yu Yao came in with an official document and handed it to Maliko: "This is the official document from the Executive Committee delivered by the ship that just arrived this morning. It is about expropriating the militia."

"Shouldn't conscription be carried out after we send the immigrants to Port Victory?" Maliko opened the official document while talking, and began to check the contents.

This official document was issued after the executive committee's executive meeting approved the military expansion plan. The main content of it is to notify the various units stationed abroad of some arrangements and adjustments regarding the military expansion plan.The one that is most closely related to the Guangzhou Office is that the Executive Committee intends to gradually release the conscription authority of the Guangzhou Office and allow the military team of the Guangzhou Office to recruit militia soldiers on the spot in Guangdong.

Of course, given that the Guangdong region currently does not have relatively mature large-scale military training institutions and is a politically sensitive area, this kind of conscription will not be carried out with great fanfare.The most likely method is to select young and strong immigrants from among the immigrants, and form a local patrol team to play the sidelines.Moreover, after the simple basic training, these soldiers recruited in the mainland will be transferred to the Shengli Port military base in batches on schedule to receive more specialized training—more importantly, let them see the strength of the Haihan group Based on the prosperity of the Sanya area, these soldiers have undergone a relatively thorough transformation of their consciousness.

Maliko read the official document quickly, and then handed it to He Xi who was next to him. He himself asked Yu Yao: "Conscription is a decision of the Executive Committee. I have no objection to this, but there is one problem. Where will the expenses come from?"

"The Ministry of Finance will soon allocate special supplementary military expenses. The relevant expenses will be paid by the Military Commission. Don't worry, Director Ma, it won't affect the economic situation of the Guangzhou Office." Yu Yao responded with a smile. road.

"Your Military Commission has already figured it out!" Maliko said, "With so many units, I think your military is the most efficient."

"That's still the score." Yu Yao shook his head and disagreed with Mariko's statement: "We started to report at the beginning of the year, requesting to expand the control area of ​​the Pearl River Estuary to the east, and now it has entered the second half of the year. There has been no response. Every time I send a report to urge me, I am blocked by the Military Commission and the General Staff with reasons such as 'the timing is not ripe'. How can you tell me how efficient this is?"

Maliko smiled and said, "You are not just expanding eastward, you are directly planning to occupy Hong Kong Island! There is also the garrison of the Daming Navy over there. How could the Military Commission approve your crazy plan."

Yu Yao said disapprovingly: "It is better to occupy Hong Kong Island later than later. The sooner we occupy Hong Kong Island, the sooner we can actually control the important waterway between Fuzhou and Guangzhou."

When Xiao Liang and Yu Yao first arrived in Guangzhou, they wholeheartedly wanted to establish a military base at the mouth of the Pearl River, and control that piece of throat that enters and exits the Pearl River.However, after waiting for more than half a year for this, they finally ushered in the executive committee's development of Dawanshan Island.

After the establishment of Wanshan Port, their eyes have already set their sights on Hong Kong Island, which has better conditions and a larger area.Compared with Dawanshan Island, which is small in size, Hong Kong Island, with an area of ​​nearly 80 square kilometers, obviously has greater potential for development.There are natural harbors with excellent conditions on both the north and south sides of Hong Kong Island, and the strait channel between its north and the mainland is the only way for ships from Fujian to enter and leave the Pearl River. Its strategic position is far from that of the small Dawanshan Island. .If Dawanshan Island is only suitable to be used as a maritime outpost in the waters of the Pearl River Estuary, then Hong Kong Island can be regarded as the place where the military really wants to build a large military base.

Of course, if Hong Kong Island is really captured one day, the use of the local area will definitely not only be a military base, but also the role of business and trade should be no less than military deterrence.If it is managed properly, it will not be difficult to turn it into the largest commercial center on the southeast coast in a few years - the premise is to win that place.

Just as the military high-level feared, Hong Kong Island is still under the direct control of Ming Dynasty, and there are garrisons and water villages of the Guangdong Navy on the island.Under such circumstances, it is probably impossible for the Haihan militia to occupy the island in a completely peaceful manner.As for the outbreak of armed conflict with Daming, not only the executive committee does not want to see it, even the militant high-level military does not want to tear themselves apart with Daming at this stage.Before finding a reasonable way to take down Hong Kong Island, the Military Commission will definitely hold on to the plan submitted by the military team of the Guangzhou Office. Yu Yao himself knows this very well. The reason why he complained is actually against This situation is just unsatisfactory.

(End of this chapter)