1627 Rise of the South China Sea

Chapter 770 Development and Change

Li Nai bid farewell to Schneider and left Victory Fort, then went straight to the railway station north of Victory Fort, preparing to take a train to Sanya New City.Earlier, he had purchased a villa there in his own name. Although he didn't live there much every year, he had always arranged for a special person to be responsible for daily cleaning and maintenance, and he could move in at any time.This time it is estimated that he will stay in Hainan Island for a while, and he will report to Shengli Fort from time to time, so Li Nai plans to settle there, so that the commute between Shengli Fort and Sanya City will not be too hard.

Li Nai deftly sent his entourage to buy the train tickets with circulation coupons, and then entered the station through the ticket gate to wait for the train.Fort Victory Station has not changed much compared to when it was just completed. There are still only two platforms, one south and one north.On the platform floor, the waiting positions of Class A carriages, Class B carriages and freight wagons are marked with different colors of paint, among which Class A carriages are high-end carriages prepared for Haihan chiefs, senior cadres and wealthy foreign businessmen, with soft seats inside , the windows are also made of glass, and there is only one small car for each train, and the ticket price is naturally higher.The second-class carriage is the first choice for ordinary naturalized citizens. The fare is cheap but the riding environment is relatively poor. There are only wooden benches in the carriage, and the windows are simple and rough iron bars. There are 200 people in the car, and sometimes people even climbed on the roof.

Li Nai waited for about a stick of incense, and finally saw a train slowly approaching on the distant railroad track, puffing white smoke.The staff on the platform blew the copper whistle loudly to remind the waiting people to retreat beyond the safety line drawn by the ground.

When the train was opened to traffic in the early days, there were often accidents where people were squeezed off the track from the platform to watch the excitement. After a few fatalities, the Ministry of Justice issued extremely strict station management regulations. Follow the instructions of the staff and exit beyond the safety line. If you are caught the first two times, you will be fined. If you are caught the third time, you will be sent directly to a hard labor camp for one month of reeducation through labor.This measure has been implemented for almost two years, and it has effectively helped passengers develop better riding habits, and accidents at stations have been rare.

When Li Nai took the train for the first time, he was also amazed by a miracle. He even thought that if such a railway could be built between Guangzhou City and Panyu County, it would greatly enhance the importance of Lijiazhuang in the Pearl River shipping.But in the end, this plan only existed in his mind and failed to become a reality.Such a large-scale project involves not only a question of money, but the ownership of the land along the line is enough to make him stillborn. Even though the Li family is powerful in Panyu County, many of the land in Panyu County are in Guangzhou. In the hands of the dignitaries and dignitaries of the government, it is impossible for Li Nai to let these people take out the land to build the railway.

In addition, the local government will not be completely confused. The generals of the Ming army stationed in Guangzhou must have seen the military risks of such a convenient passage from the Pearl River estuary to Guangzhou City, and they are bound to stop this kind of project. build.

And this kind of thing will not happen on Hainan Island where Haihan is in charge. First of all, all the land here is controlled by the Haihan Executive Committee. Even if someone refuses to accept the land acquisition and road construction, there is no way to resist.Secondly, almost all local government offices have been emptied by Haihan. Now Haihan doesn't even need to inform the government if he wants to build the railway, he can just do it himself.It is said that Haihan is currently planning to build a railway between Qiongzhou Fucheng and Danzhou, linking the two big cities in Qiongbei with railway tracks.If this railway with a length of more than 200 miles can be completed and opened to traffic, it will undoubtedly become the fastest way of transportation between the two places.

Li Nai's wish to take the train in his hometown may not be realized in the near future, unless Guangdong changes hands and Haihan takes power, it may become a reality, but Li Nai does not report too much about it Hope, after all, this is really a bit outrageous for the people of Ming Dynasty.

Li Nai and his entourage checked the tickets and got on the train. There were only five or six naturalized civilian cadres in the first-class carriage with them. They were all dressed in Haihan with shaved heads and easy clothes, which were quite different from ordinary naturalized civilians. .However, Li Nai's level of dealing with Haihan people was far beyond that of ordinary people. He could tell at a glance that these people were not authentic Haihan people.

These Guihuamin cadres all looked very young, at most in their early twenties. Although they didn't know Li Nai, they all waved their hands to him.Listening to their conversation, Li Nai also found that the northern accent of the Haihan people was quite different from that of the Haihan people. They should all be locals, but they still tried their best to speak the "common Mandarin" that Haihan is currently promoting.It goes without saying that Li Nai knew that these young people should all be "Haihan Scholars" trained by the Haihan education system.

Although the area under Haihan's rule did not prohibit scholars from taking the Ming Dynasty's imperial examinations, and even took various care measures for students who took the exams, Haihan is also gradually building its own "imperial examination" system, building its own schools, and qualified students All arrangements for employment.Talents who can stand out in this system will enter the various departments of Haihan, and the threshold for becoming an official is much lower than that of the imperial examination in Ming Dynasty.Some naturalized youths who enrolled in the early days have been assigned to various Haihan official institutions one after another. Those who have mixed well, such as Fu Li, Yu Xiaobao, Zhang Qianzhi, Huang Que, etc., have already been assigned to their respective schools. Did a good job on the job.

Li Nai has also had contact with some of them, knowing that these young people from poor backgrounds have a high degree of loyalty to Haihan who changed the trajectory of their lives, and most of them no longer regard themselves as The people of Ming Dynasty are the people of Haihan in the true sense—even though the Ming Dynasty officials have not yet recognized the existence of such a country in Haihan.

These young Guihuamin cadres are not considered the most fanatical supporters of Haihan. Li Nai knew that the real fanatics actually gathered in another place, which was the Haihan militia.Because of the work needs of the "Golden Shield Escort", coupled with his personal hobbies, he has visited the training situation of the Haihan militia more than once, and has personally experienced the almost brainwashing propaganda methods in the militia. Not to mention, almost all officers who only need to bring a "long" are fanatical Haihan supporters.It is no exaggeration to say that most of them have the determination to fight to the death for Haihan, and they are also very keen to realize Haihan's external expansion through military means.Li Nai believes that if there is not such an authoritative organization as the Executive Committee, which will maintain the long-term peace between Haihan and Daming out of overall consideration, the Haihan militia would have already sent troops to capture the Pearl River Delta region.

Li Nai looked out of the car window, the train was passing through the bay between Yulin Peninsula and Luhuitou Peninsula, and he could see the huge docks lined up by the sea.The current Shengli Port Shipyard is said to have more than 2000 employees, and shipbuilding orders keep this place in a state of continuous operation around the clock.Every month, new ships, large and small, are launched from here, and more than [-]% of the combat ships in the Haihan fleet are also built in this place.Although the number of ships built in this place may not be comparable to the sum of the shipyards along the Pearl River in Guangdong, the tonnage of ships launched is already quite different.

The periphery of the dock where warships are built is covered by tall bamboo sheds and fences, and the construction scene inside cannot be seen from the train.However, because of his special status, Li Nai has visited key departments of the shipyard more than once, and he is quite familiar with the situation inside.From the top of the mast that protruded high into the air, he could tell that one of the docks was building a "majestic" warship-only the main mast of this kind of giant warship could extend to such a high height. air.

Personally, Li Nai doesn't have much dislike for Haihan's actual control over the South China Sea area, including the Pearl River Estuary. After all, Haihan people's doing these things did not hurt the interests of Daming maritime merchants. A looting pirate.For a sea merchant like Fu Ruifeng who keeps his own law and order, having a more authoritative force like Haihan maintain order at sea is a good thing that he could not have wished for. "Golden Shield Escort" is also currently undertaking maritime escort business, and many of them need to cooperate with the militia navy. The sea area that the navy can control is the area where "Golden Shield Escort" can safely and boldly pass through.From the perspective of a practitioner, Li Nai really hopes that the Haihan Navy can control more areas.

After the Haihan Navy gradually took over the waters of the Pearl River Estuary, the Guangdong and Guangxi Navy also slowly withdrew from this area with "knowledge".At present, the navy's resident has moved westward to the Huangmaohai area. This is the mouth of the Xijiang River. From the Xijiang River upstream, you can go directly to Zhaoqing Mansion, where the governor of Guangdong and Guangxi is located.The Haihan military also has a tacit understanding of this division of spheres of influence, and has never sent warships to the Xijiang River Basin including the estuary.

Li Nai is aware of these subtle changes in the situation, but as a businessman whose interest entanglement with Hai Han has become so deep that it cannot be resolved, he will never stand on the side of the government again.And this attitude is not unique to him. His family, business partners he can contact, and even some people in the officialdom are more willing to stand by Haihan's side for the changes in the situation that are quietly going on in Guangdong and Guangxi.Li Nai once heard Schneider use the term "vested interests" to evaluate this kind of behavior, which accurately reflects that the root of this choice of position lies in interests.

Although most people still talk about Daming, Li Nai believes that these people are as open-minded as himself, and that these places occupied by Haihan will probably be the same as Hainan Island, and will no longer be controlled by the Zhu family.With the speed of Haihan's development, there is no military obstacle to annexing more land of Ming Dynasty. It depends more on whether the Haihan people need it.

Thinking of this, Li Nai couldn't help looking at the direction of the Luhuitou Peninsula outside the car window. Although it was impossible to see the scene on the other side of the hill from the car because of the obstruction of the Luling hill, it was not difficult for Li Nai who was familiar with the local conditions. Picture a training scene in full swing at an Army garrison.

The army base of the Haihan Militia is on the Luhuitou Peninsula. Although Li Nai does not know the size of the garrison troops, he believes that the local troops are strong enough to defend the two vital points of Shengli Port and Sanya Port.And adjacent to the army base, the area located at the southern tip of the Luhuitou Peninsula is the quarantine area for Sanya to receive immigrants.From an immigrant to a soldier of the Haihan militia, it was only a wall away.Today, it is definitely impossible for Ming Dynasty to take back these areas through military means. It is already thankful to be able to keep the land of the mainland from being encroached by Haihan.

Of course, the emperor, who was far away in the Forbidden City in Beijing, probably did not know what was happening in the south, because the memorials submitted to the court by the governors of Guangdong and Guangxi and officials at all levels did not mention that this area had changed its name and belonged to others.In the past, Qiongzhou was able to pay tribute to the imperial court with very limited taxes, and few people in the court paid attention to this remote area known as the ends of the earth.Now the Haihan people pay the due taxes of the Qiongzhou government every year, completely replacing the functions of the local government. Naturally, no one in the court will notice this silent change.Even if relevant news spread to the capital, no high-ranking officials would believe these rumors—how could there be people who rebelled and did not raise flags to kill officials, but still paid taxes to the court on time and in accordance with the amount every year?
However, it is hard to say how long Haihan will pay taxes to the Ming court. According to what Li Nai knows, scholars from Qiongzhou, Danzhou, Yazhou and other counties have jointly signed a letter to the Haihan Executive Committee. Demanded that Hainan Island be independent from Ming Dynasty and officially classified as the territory of Haihan.If one day such a proposal becomes a reality, Li Nai thinks that the Guangdong and Guangxi government will probably have to hold their noses in recognition.As for whether Longyan would be furious after reporting to the imperial court and order a crusade, he didn't think it was very likely. The troops in Fuguang and Guangxi knew the power of the Haihan militia well, even if there was an order from the imperial court. He would not take the initiative to start a war with the Haihan people. Most of the time, he just used a formality to fool around. If the court wanted to punish the local military officers because of the unfavorable war, it might force even bigger things—after all, he jumped to Haihan. It is not uncommon for the military officers of the Ming Dynasty in the Han militia, and there are several of them at the level of generals.

As for mobilizing troops from the mainland to attack Qiongzhou, it is even more unrealistic, not to mention other things, it is difficult to adapt to the climate alone.Moreover, the Guangdong and Guangxi officialdom, which has many interests with Haihan, will probably not cooperate with the actions of foreign troops.Even if the imperial court can transfer [-] to [-] troops to Guangdong, it is estimated that there is not much chance to go to the island to fight against the Haihan people. With the armed forces at sea at an absolute disadvantage, the troops assembled on the mainland have a chance to pass through the Qiongzhou Strait are negligible.

(End of this chapter)