1627 Rise of the South China Sea

Chapter 825 Military Observer

Tian Yeyou stayed in Heitu Port all the year round, and the old members of these special warfare battalions basically recognized him, and he was also familiar with these veterans who enlisted in Heitu Port in the early days.Tian Yeyou said with a smile: "I know you, when you two brothers came to Heitu Port, your brother is still working as a foreman in the mine, right?"

"Yes, yes, the last time I went back to visit relatives, when my brother said he got married, Chief Tian gave him the honor to drink a glass of wine." Ruan Jun nodded repeatedly. For the Guihua people, this is a great face .

"Being a company commander... not bad, good, promising!" Tian Yeyou would not hesitate to say a few words of encouragement and praise when he met an old friend in a foreign country.

"The chief has given you the honor! By the way, if there is anything that needs to be done at the moment, please ask the chief to give instructions!" Although Tian Yeyou's encouragement was very official, it was very useful to Ruan Jun, so he quickly expressed his attitude.

Tian Yeyou said: "You first organize people to unload all the tools on the boat, and then prepare a place for our group of people to live. I will first understand the situation today, plan the route, and go into the mountain tomorrow."

The people Tian Yeyou brought over this time are all apprentices he has successively accepted over the past few years.As far as the field of mining exploration and mining is concerned, he will definitely become the patriarch of this industry in a few years. The many large mineral deposits he discovered for Haihan in his life will all become legends that future generations of practitioners will talk about.Of course, these achievements are inseparable from the support of the large database brought by time travel. With the relevant records of the approximate location of ore veins, it is much easier for practitioners like Tian Yeyou to explore mineral deposits.

Although the gold reserves in the Jinguashi area are not small, they are not all concentrated in one or two places, but are scattered in many small veins in the mountains. Therefore, in terms of mining methods, it is unlikely to be like Tiandu, As in Shilu and Heitugang, if a large vein is excavated, a mine can be dug for more than a hundred years or even longer.Dispersed mining will bring more difficulties in management and transportation. As the maker of the mining plan, Tian Yeyou must take all possible situations into consideration.

In addition, there is a difference of 400 years between the current era and the time when Tian Yeyou came here. What Tian Yeyou saw at the beginning was a mining area that had been mined for a hundred years. There is a certain gap between the topography and the undeveloped natural conditions. Re-determining the location of the veins is not an easy task.

That night, Tian Yeyou carefully understood the surrounding environment from Ruan Jun and others who arrived earlier. Although there is no threat of foreign enemies here for the time being, there are indeed many dangers in the primitive jungle.In addition, there are five or six miles of mountain roads from the seaside to the mining area. The terrain in this area is relatively complicated, and it is impossible to directly build a rail transportation system from the mine to the seaside like Shilu and Heitu Port. Therefore, it is similar to mineral processing and smelting, and worker accommodation. , supporting living facilities, etc., must be built in the vicinity of the mining area to improve the work efficiency of the mine after it is put into production.

The next day, Ruan Jun led a team to escort Tian Yeyou and others into the mountain for prospecting.Half a day after they set off, the first batch of immigrants arrived at the seaside of Shen'ao Bay, along with various tools and building materials.This batch of immigrants came from the Penghu immigration base. Qian Tiandun didn't even have time to transport the immigrants to the newly occupied Tamsui River Estuary and Jilonggang. He followed the arrangement of the executive committee and sent the immigrants to the gold mine first.Although it is impossible to mine gold mines immediately, the request of the Executive Committee is to have enough labor force on the ground ready to start production at any time.Before then, they will take on the task of building piers and roads.

Although the scale of gold mining in the Jinguashi area cannot be compared with the previous large mines, it is planned that at least two to three thousand miners will be arranged here to maintain daily production, plus family members, security personnel, management personnel, etc. etc. In the future, the permanent population of this area will remain around 4000.

At the same time, the naval forces participating in this operation did not stop to rest. Their task was not only to cover the landing of the army, but also to survey the northern part of Taiwan along the coastline after occupying Jilong Port.The purpose of this operation is twofold. One is to verify and correct the maps currently used by the Navy and the Ministry of Shipping, and the other is to clear up possible Spanish settlements on the east coast of Taiwan Island.

According to historical records and the confessions of the captives, the Spanish colonists attacked the Kavalan tribe on the Lanyang Plain in Taitung a year ago and seized actual control of this area.In the following year, some immigrants were resettled to this area one after another, but it is not known whether these people had fled the settlement after learning the news that Jilonggang was captured by the enemy.Although these immigrants may not be able to threaten the mining area in the north, they are still a hidden danger to Haihan. If they are not cleaned up, the military and executive committee leaders will not be completely at ease.

However, at present, the Ministry of Civil Affairs and the Ministry of Agriculture are not very interested in developing the Lanyang Plain, that is, the Yilan County area of ​​Taiwan in later generations, because at least tens of thousands of immigrants can be resettled in the areas currently controlled by Haihan on the western coast of Taiwan. It won't be as stressful as it would be on the East Coast.Due to the lack of a good natural harbor on the east coast of Taiwan, it is also difficult for the military to deploy permanent maritime armed forces here, and the army, which has to quarrel for several days in the executive committee every time it expands, is even more reluctant to disperse its limited troops. Go to these small corners and corners to garrison.

On March 20, the navy arrived at the estuary of Lanyang Creek and discovered a village built by colonists not far upstream.However, as expected in advance, most of the immigrants who settled here have already fled, and there are only about [-] people who do not want to return to Luzon Island to stay here.The navy encountered no resistance, and these immigrants, who knew what had happened, obediently chose to surrender.Of course, if the Haihan people didn't come, they probably wouldn't be able to live here for too long, because once the Kavalan people who had a blood feud with the colonists knew that the Spanish armed forces had withdrawn from here, they would definitely come back from the mountains to liquidate the invaders.At that time, these immigrants, who will be outnumbered, will most likely end up dying in a foreign country.

For the local indigenous Kavalan tribe, Haihan currently has no intention of actively getting close to or incorporating them, because according to the Spanish records, the Kavalan people are more important than the Pingpu aborigines who generally live in the coastal plains. Aggressive and more ferocious, the reason why the Spaniards fought against them was because all the passengers and crew on a Spanish merchant ship that ran aground here were killed by native warriors.In a short period of time, Haihan has successively occupied many areas on the coastline of Taiwan Island from south to north, and now has no energy to deal with the aborigines in these non-occupied areas.Anyway, these indigenous people's shipbuilding ability is extremely poor, and the boats that go out to sea to fish are still at the level of canoes, which is not enough to threaten the Haihan settlement beyond their daily activities.

Haihan's operation in Taiwan since October last year has been going very smoothly. From the survey of the Zhuoshui River to the selection of the Kaohsiung area as the main target, and then along the coastline northward to attack the Spanish stronghold, the process encountered The difficulties and resistance were extremely limited, and it took less than half a year to basically complete the control of the northern coastline of western Taiwan.Although there is still a long coastline in the east that is still unowned, it is true that there will be no other threatening competitors in the short term.

This achievement was basically advocated and completed by the military alone. Although there were still many voices of opposition and doubts in the early stage of the operation, it was believed that the development of Taiwan after the occupation of Penghu was somewhat controversial. After all, the population of Taiwan Island is very small. The supporting infrastructure is almost zero, and the resources required for the implementation of development are huge, which seems to be contrary to Haihan's plan to expand rapidly to the north.However, after the military's successive victories, the voices of opposition have gradually decreased, especially after the Ministry of Industry uncovered the gold mining project in the Jilong area of ​​Taipei, those who questioned the excessive military expenditure of the attack on Taipei obediently shut their mouths ——No matter how large the amount of military expenditure is, it cannot be larger than an entire gold mine buried underground that has not yet been mined.

Haihan's frequent military transfers in the past six months have not been completely hidden from the eyes of the Ming army in Fujian. The military observers of the Ming army stationed at the Penghu base are not free to eat. Warships in the port frequently come in and out. The large mobilization of materials is obviously a sign of military action.It was just that before Haihan announced it himself, they didn't know where the real goal of Haihan's army was.Although they knew to some extent that Haihan might make further moves on the island of Taiwan, they never imagined that not long after the Haihan people took down Kaohsiung, they made plans for the Spaniards in the north.

However, the degree of cooperation between the two parties has been very deep, and the Fujian government does not need to worry that Haihan's secret poking actions are detrimental to the area under his rule.Haihan invests in a lot of business in Fujian, especially in Zhangzhou and Quanzhou. It is not beneficial for Haihan to mess up Fujian, and the Fujian government knows that Haihan people are only interested in the population and market of Daming. As for the land , it seems that only a port that is convenient for trade is enough.Moreover, the Haihan people take the matter of the same ancestors very seriously, and they are not as difficult to get close to as the Western Fans. Whether it is trade or other aspects, they have always taken good care of the Ming people. This has been recognized by Fujian officials and the people. Pretty good reviews.Haihan people, including the naturalized people who worked for Haihan, are even more accepted in Zhangzhou and Quanzhou than in Guangzhou.

For Xu Jiaqi, the military representative stationed in Penghu, this is indeed the best job he has gotten since joining the army.If we were cautious about living on the land of Haihan people at the beginning, after a long time, Xu Jiaqi felt that it was much easier and more interesting than leading troops to fight, and the personal treatment was not bad.

The residence of the military observers of the Ming Dynasty in Penghu was used a long time ago when this place was still under the jurisdiction of the Ming Dynasty. Considering that this is the face of the Ming Dynasty, the Fujian government funded the renovation and decoration of this place.Of course, the food and clothing expenses of the military observers here are all settled by themselves, and Haihan will not bear these expenses.But for the Xu family, which controls more than [-]% of the maritime trade in Fujian, this is nothing more than drizzle.

Xu Jiaqi's daily work is to observe the daily operations of the Penghu base, such as the maintenance of naval ships, the training of special warfare battalions, the transfer of materials and personnel at ports and terminals, and so on.As for Haihan's foreign military operations, such as sending troops to Tainan to occupy Kaohsiung Port, it is necessary to apply to Qian Tiandun, the local supreme commander in Penghu, and only after he agrees can he go to the front line to observe the battle with the army.Of course, based on Haihan's past combat methods and achievements, it can be said that this kind of battlefield observation is not too dangerous. Whenever Xu Jiaqi has the opportunity, he will follow him to make soy sauce and experience Haihan's advanced tactics.

If the original purpose of sending military observers was to learn advanced military technology from the Haihan people and at the same time play a certain role in preventing and monitoring, then these two purposes have basically lost their effectiveness now.

Senior Ming military officers like Xu Jiaqi have been dealing with the Haihan military for a long time, so they naturally know that the weapons sold and the tactics taught by the Haihan people are all second-rate goods that have been ambushed.As for the first-class good things, of course they keep them for themselves.Although the Fujian military pays high prices for Haihan's arms and equipment every year, it is easy to see that all the weapons purchased are outdated weapons that the Haihan Army has no longer used.Of course, for the Ming army, these weapons are still very advanced, and they have obvious advantages in performance over the weapons made by the Ministry of War. For Xu Xinsu who lacks a sense of security, these are still necessities worth spending a lot of money on. .

Of course, it doesn't mean that the advanced weapons equipped by the Haihan Army are completely impossible to obtain. As long as they can afford a large price, at least a few rifles can still be obtained.However, the structure of the breech-loading rifles used by the Haihan army is significantly different from the front-loading matchlock guns and flintlock guns sold to the Ming army, and it is more technically difficult to imitate.This is not just a matter of parts and assembly accuracy. The weapons used by Haihan in active service have improved in material and processing technology. There will still be significant differences.Moreover, the gunpowder used in Haihan weapons has always been an object that Ming craftsmen cannot imitate, and this has an inevitable impact on the performance of weapons.

After a long time, the Ming army lost its mind and bought what should be bought. As for the advanced rifles that make people covetous, it can only be discussed after the Haihan army's weapons are replaced.The rifle is only the least difficult to imitate among Haihan's weapons and equipment, and it is more troublesome to imitate other weapons.

(End of this chapter)