1627 Rise of the South China Sea

Chapter 525 Another Plan

Although He Xi's statement was more subtle, Maiko could still understand what it meant to "create tension artificially".It is nothing more than mobilizing these civilian armed forces to carry out some low-intensity harassment of the surrounding areas, creating an atmosphere of panic among the people, and forcing those timid people to flee in large numbers.

In the past few years, Guangdong has been plagued by natural and man-made disasters, and the rogue bandits in the province even made trouble to the point where the Ming army wanted to avoid them.Several groups of bandits assembled thousands of people to attack Lijiazhuang two years ago, and the Guangzhou garrison did not dare to go to the local rescue. As a result, the Haihan militia was given a chance to become famous.At that time, there were tens of thousands of refugees in Guangdong Province. Many people had put aside all scruples in order to survive. A large pot of gruel could attract hundreds of people to sign up for immigration.However, due to traffic conditions and other objective reasons, the number of immigrants who were organized and sent to Hainan Island was not particularly large. However, the gathering of refugees near Guangzhou at that time was still deeply imprinted in the minds of the group of Guangzhou Office.

Now the executive committee has ordered that we try to quickly gather a large number of immigrants. If we follow the normal process, then Guangdong will definitely not be able to complete the task in full.And artificially creating refugees is really a solution to the problem.

Due to the widespread banditry in Guangdong in the past two years, the people have more or less psychological shadows about it. Once bandits appear in the local area, they will easily and habitually flee their homes.And Guangzhou Prefecture, which is known as the safest in Guangdong, and its subordinate Panyu County are undoubtedly the best refuge.

The city of Guangzhou was well-defended, and the bandits and bandits did not have the guts or the ability to attack. For the refugees, being able to enter the city of Guangzhou symbolized that they had entered a safe zone.However, Panyu County, located forty miles south of Guangzhou City, is another completely different choice.The Haihan militia, which is known as the strongest militia in Guangdong, is stationed there, and it takes in refugees all the year round. As long as you are willing to work with the Haihan people, you can immediately have food and shelter.

The only thing that makes people worry is entering Haihan's shelter, then they must follow the arrangement of Haihan people and move to Qiongzhou Island overseas to settle down, and this is an unacceptable condition for many people.Only those refugees who have lost all their property in the disaster and are already in a state of helplessness will have to choose this road in order to survive.

Maiko frowned and said, "Is this method...not safe? How many of the civilian armed forces you contacted can be obeyed and controlled?"

"Are you worried that you won't be able to hold it when you get too big?" He Xi knew what Maliko was worried about when he heard Maiko's tone.

Maliko nodded without hesitation and said: "If it is our own people who can control the command, we can try it. But the people outside... With all due respect, whether the task of recruiting immigrants can be completed or not is a second matter. , if there is any big mess that cannot be dealt with, both of you and me, including the department under your hand, will be in bad luck!"

He Xi responded: "I know your opinion is that the risk is too high, so let's think about it and see if there is any way to make the risk more controllable."

Maiko shook his head and said: "There are too many links in the middle, and there are too many uncontrollable factors. Unless you can simplify the plan to the extent that we can directly control it, I still can't agree with this approach. I have other ideas , instead of working hard here in Guangzhou, it is better to think about starting from other places."

"Like?"

"For example, the place closest to Hainan Island." Maliko stood up, walked to the map hanging behind his back, and pointed to the north of the Qiongzhou Strait: "Leizhou Prefecture, Lianzhou Prefecture, Gaozhou Prefecture, these are all good target areas .”

Compared with the location of Guangzhou, these state capitals located on the Leizhou Peninsula and surrounding areas are indeed much closer to Hainan Island. It is only more than ten nautical miles from Leizhou to Qiongzhou Prefecture. It took three hours to arrive, and the distance was dozens of times closer than Guangzhou.But precisely because of the long distance, in the first few years of foreign development of the Guangzhou Office, the influence radiated to these areas was very limited.

He Xi hesitated and said: "These places are closer to Hainan Island than to our side. Going there to recruit immigrants will take more time and effort for us to do the work, and we will not get good results!"

"Don't worry, the west side is not bright, but the east side is bright!" Maliko raised his arm and pointed to the area east of the Pearl River Estuary: "Huizhou Prefecture, Chaozhou Prefecture, and the Fujian area to the east, all of which we can Where to start!"

"Fujian is Xu Xinsu's territory!" He Xi did not forget to remind Mariko.Although Xu Xinsu Group and Haihan have a relatively deep cooperative relationship, the cooperation is only limited to arms trading and economic and trade fields. As for politics, especially sensitive content such as local jurisdiction, both parties have tacitly maintained non-interference.

In the past two years, Xu Xinsu has also sent several batches of military officers to Sanya to receive Haihan's military training. He is quite familiar with the fact that the southern part of Qiongzhou Island has fallen into Haihan's actual control, but the Fujian side did not violate Ming Dynasty because of this. He became hostile to Haihan because of his interests, and the cooperation between the two parties was still going on at the same pace as before.

And Haihan also knew what Xu Xinsu's so-called "Navy Division" was. Even though this group of pirates who came ashore wore Daming's military uniform, they were still engaged in armed smuggling business most of the time.In Zhangzhou Mansion, Quanzhou Mansion and other places controlled by Xu Xinsu's forces, the strength and influence of the Daming government in the local area may have fallen to the same level as the Yacheng government.

Both sides have consciously avoided this field in cooperation, and do not interfere with each other's local practices.Haihan previously entrusted Xu Xinsu to hire a large number of craftsmen from all walks of life from Fujian, but he never really imported people from Fujian under the banner of attracting immigrants.Any ruler with a normal mind would not easily watch the large population loss in the area under his rule, and Xu Xinsu, as a businessman, must have a good understanding of these issues, so Hai Han never asked It has made such a request.

Maiko shook his head and said: "We didn't do this before because the time was not yet ripe, but now that we have won the base of Hainan Island, I think we can re-negotiate the terms of cooperation with Xu Xinsu now! Old He , in your opinion, how much loyalty can Xu Xinsu have to Daming?"

"If it's ten points, four points can't be more!" He Xi expressed his judgment without hesitation: "The only reason why he chose to submit to Daming is to use this backer to develop his own power, just like the original history. What Zheng Zhilong did is the same. But for him now, in addition to Daming as a backer, our backer is also indispensable."

In the original history, after Zheng Zhilong killed Xu Xinsu, he quickly chose to accept the recruitment of Fujian governor Xiong Wencan to return to the Ming court, from the official to the general soldier.And what he did after he controlled the sea route was to collect protection fees from all merchant ships passing by the Fujian waters. What he did was actually not much different from the bandits who occupied the mountains as kings.

However, in this time and space, Xu Xinsu has successfully avoided the original tragic ending due to the military assistance from Haihan. In the past two years, the battle with the "Eighteen Zhi" pirate gang has more victories than losses, and there is quite an improvement. .But if he really wiped out the "Eighteen Zhi", then his subsequent actions will probably follow the old path of Zheng Zhilong in the original history.Therefore, while Haihan provided military aid to him, he also kept a certain amount of control, so that his military strength would not expand too quickly, and Xu Xinsu would not let Xu Xinsu destroy the opponent "Eighteen Zhi" too early.

Maiko continued: "I agree with you. Xu Xinsu has limited loyalty to Daming. What he pursues is to rely on Daming and our two backers to defeat the opponent in front of Shibazhi. In the past, we needed to control The strength of the aid to Xu Xinsu is because our own sea power is too weak. When we cannot affect the situation in the Fujian Strait, we can only hope that the offensive and defensive balance between Xu Xinsu and Zheng Zhilong will be maintained. But now we have also occupied Hainan Island, the base area With it, there is also a fleet, I think we can look a little further, and Fujian can also start to prepare."

He Xi tentatively asked: "You mean to increase military aid to Xu Xinsu and use this condition in exchange for immigrants from Fujian?"

"That's right." Maliko nodded and said: "Xu Xinsu has advantages in Fujian that we don't have in Guangdong. He organizes large-scale immigration in an official capacity, and no one can do anything to him. And his greatest need for us, It is to buy our military equipment. Provide more weapons to the Fujian side, and let them speed up the defeat of Shibazhi by the way, wear down his strength, and clear the obstacles for us to go to the Fujian Strait in the future."

He Xi was silent for a while before opening his mouth and said: "There are also great risks in doing so!"

"But the proportion of support for this plan in the executive committee will definitely be higher than the plan you just mentioned." Maiko explained: "At least we have two natural allies, the first is the military industry unit, apart from Haihan Military Industry In addition, it is possible to add the Victory Port Shipyard. The second is the military, especially the navy. I heard that the navy's third "Majesty-class" warship was stranded because of funding and use problems, but if the navy If there is an opportunity to go to Fujian, then the executive committee will definitely approve the follow-up shipbuilding plan."

"Is this not enough?" He Xi asked.

Maiko continued to explain: "The most important thing is that the risk of this plan is more controllable. We only need to deal with Xu Xinsu's family, instead of many families in your previous plan, and the unexpected variables will be reduced a lot. And Xu Xinsu is very dependent on us in terms of weapons and equipment, if he loses our ammunition support, the troops under his command can fight for a month or two at most, he will understand this truth."

He Xi didn't make another sound, and started to write and draw with a pen and paper.Maliko didn't urge him, and sat back in his seat, waiting quietly.

After a long while, He Xi put down the pen in his hand, looked at Maliko and said, "I have listed the pros and cons of the two options, and it is true that yours is more feasible, but the disadvantages are also obvious, that is, cycle and cost issues."

"I know these two problems, but I can't solve them." Maiko shrugged and said, "It's that far from Fujian to Hainan Island. The longer the distance, the longer the cycle, and the higher the cost of transporting immigrants. But As long as the transportation capacity is guaranteed, I think it is possible to obtain a large number of immigrants in a short period of time. What the executive committee wants now is the population, and I think the cost is a secondary issue. We can propose a plan to the executive committee. As for the cost performance, that is Leave it to the executive committee to weigh."

He Xi thought that there was no other way to go for the time being, so he agreed with Maliko's opinion.Immediately, the two began to draft the report, and of course He Xi's first plan was also included in it, and then sent back to Sanya in the form of a telegram.

The executive committee obviously attached great importance to this matter, and replied the telegram the next day, asking Guangdong to learn from the previous successful experience of exchanging weapons for population in Annan, make detailed plans for the second plan, and communicate with Fujian as soon as possible. contact with each other to test whether the practice of exchanging armaments for population can be recognized by the other party.

On November 11, Maliko came to a manor in the north of Guangzhou City, where he met Dong Yanyun, the representative of Fujian Xu Xinsu Group in Guangzhou.

After meeting and exchanging greetings, Maliko informed Haihan that he hoped to reach a new cooperation method with Fujian, and Dong Yanyun's surprise was written directly on his face: "What Director Ma means is that our In exchange for your restricted weapons?"

"That's right." Maliko nodded and said, "We also know that you have been trying to purchase weapons in large quantities, but our production capacity is really limited, and there is no way to supply the quantity you need. But starting next year, this situation will There has been a change. We will expand the iron ore and arsenal, and increase the production scale of weapons. Of course, the premise is that we can get a sufficient amount of labor, and this is the main reason why we propose this new cooperation method to you. "

Dong Yanyun frowned and said: "Then I don't know how you plan to calculate the price of this method of exchanging weapons for people? It seems... there is suspicion of buying and selling people!"

"No, no, no, this is not human trafficking." Maiko corrected solemnly: "This is just an exchange of conditions. You provide us with labor, and we provide you with the fruits of labor. There will be no Numbers such as the population price, and we will not sell the people of Ming Dynasty as commodities."

"The Haihan people's shame is really not covered, this is really serious nonsense! If it is thicker than the skin, then I really lost!" Looking at Maiko with a righteous face, Dong Yanyun couldn't help complaining a few words in his heart .

(End of this chapter)