1627 Rise of the South China Sea

Chapter 897 The Next Goal

Ma Yue wanted to personally supervise the battle, but he didn't expect that his first official battle would be the last time he stepped on the battlefield. commander.But Ma Yue's disappearance did not immediately cause confusion in Jiaxing Hainingwei, or it is more accurate to say that no one noticed it in a short period of time.

Ma Yue didn't keep it secret when he should keep it secret, but kept it tight when he shouldn't. Before he left, he didn't tell the two commanders and his subordinate commanders about his whereabouts. He only said that he was not feeling well. After resting for a few days, they were specifically told not to visit at home.But he told his family members that he would go to Hangzhou for business, and it might take several days before he came back.Under such a blunder, no one immediately discovered that the commanding envoy of the dignified guard had disappeared for no reason.

It was not Ma Yue's colleagues at Hainingwei who first discovered and exposed this situation, but Guanhaiwei across Hangzhou Bay.On July [-], a navy ship under the command of Guanhaiwei found a Japanese pirate ship in the East China Sea. When they chased it all the way to the vicinity of Zhoushan Island, they received the assistance of the Haihan militia and intercepted the strange Japanese pirate ship. .The soldiers who boarded the ship and inspected found more than a dozen corpses on board, including Ma Yue, as well as a large amount of cash and some commodities produced by Ming Dynasty.After another day, Huang Tao, the commander of Guanhaiwei, personally confirmed Ma Yue's identity and sent a message to Hainingwei.

Hainingwei was shocked when they received the news, and immediately led by a commander to Hainingwei to identify the corpses. It turned out that apart from Ma Yue's corpse, all the more than ten corpses found on the Japanese pirate ship were Haining. The guards are all Ma Yue's confidantes.Because the Japanese pirates resisted arrest by force, no one was caught alive, so the cause of death of Ma Yue and his group became an unsolved mystery.But according to Huang Tao's statement, Ma Yue and others should have unfortunately died while secretly going to sea to capture Japanese pirates, and they should have died fighting for the country.

No one raised any objections to this statement. It cannot be said that Ma Yue was a Japanese pirate who went to sea secretly, and died in a fire due to uneven distribution of spoils or other reasons-although it seems that this possibility seems to be more likely.However, if the dignified imperial court official is found to be in collusion with pirates and Japanese pirates after his death, and his death is so disgraceful, it will not only lose his face, so there must be a proper explanation to end this matter, The possibility proposed by Huang Tao can at least save everyone's face.

Since all the Japanese pirates on the ship were dead, this matter can be regarded as a veritable death without evidence. Although the people of Hainingwei still have doubts about this, the property seized on the ship, the corpses of the Japanese pirates, and the officers who chased the Japanese pirate ship And the testimony of the Haihan people, these people have all the evidence, so it is impossible to question it.

So when Hainingwei reported the incident to Zhejiang Dusi, he could only explain Ma Yue's inexplicable death by saying "go to sea to suppress bandits and die for the country".Of course, along with this report, there is also Guan Haiwei's official report of meritorious service. After all, he also killed a boatload of Japanese pirates, which is a rare military exploit in recent years.Huang Tao, commander of Guanhaiwei, Xu Shaohua, chief of the Navy, and Qian, Shi, and other Haihan businessmen who have acted bravely are all on the list of meritorious service.In order to be able to confirm this matter, more than [-] Japanese pirate heads were also sent to Zhejiang Dusi.

As for Ma Teng, the owner of Qushan Island who really contributed to this process, he was not even mentioned.Of course, this is also his own request. Although he is now covered by the Haihan people, he is still worried that his betrayal will lead to revenge, and he is not willing to show the limelight.In fact, as long as he doesn't tell the truth, I'm afraid the truth of this matter will not be leaked out for several years. After all, there are not many people involved. Except for Haihan's combatants, the remaining survivors who know the truth have all been packed and sent to the south. , Their destination is either the coal mines in Annan Heitu Port, or the plantations on Anbuna Island in the South China Sea. In short, it is probably unlikely that they will return to Zhejiang in their lifetime.

Although this matter started hastily, the final solution was quite satisfactory. At least Haihan cleaned himself up very cleanly on the surface, and further consolidated his positive image of "assisting the government in suppressing bandits".

Of course, this kind of method is impossible to fool everyone. For example, Yu Pingfeng, the governor of Zhejiang who planned this matter, knew that this matter was definitely not reported by Guanhaiwei and Hainingwei. It is impossible for the role played in the novel to be a good citizen who assists the government to suppress the bandits. Ma Yue's mysterious disappearance and death are mostly related to him.But Ma Yue did not report his action plan to Yu Pingfeng in advance, so Yu Pingfeng really couldn't figure out why Ma Yue, a dignified third-rank official, ran to the sea quietly, and how he fell into the Haihan people hand.

Where did Yu Pingfeng expect that Ma Yue was self-willed and lacked actual combat experience, and the Haihan people had thoroughly figured out his plan long before he started, and there was a variable like Ma Teng that no one expected. Ma Yue thought he was a hunter, but he didn't know that the prey in his eyes was the real hunter, but he became the prey who stepped into the trap unknowingly.When the Haihan people made this action plan, they had already taken into account the follow-up treatment methods, and tried their best to maximize the benefits of this matter.If you are not a witness of the whole thing, it is difficult to imagine that there are so many twists and turns.

Although Yu Pingfeng suspected that Haihan people were responsible for this incident, he didn't even have the slightest evidence. On the contrary, Ningbo Guanhaiwei, who had not expressed his attitude before, obviously took the same position as Haihan people this time.This is even more disappointing to Yu Pingfeng than Ma Yue's death, because it means that the Ningbo government guards closest to Zhoushan Island have given up their attitude of being an enemy of Haihan.It was the first month between Chang Guowei and Guan Haiwei, and the bandit suppression documents handed over one after the other mentioned the assistance of the Haihan people, which made Yu Pingfeng, who wanted to revenge Haihan, really hate it.

If the reason why Yu Pingfeng fought against Haihan at the beginning was only because he felt sorry for the destruction of the property he handed over to the Haisha Gang on Liuheng Island, then later it became more or less adulterated and wanted to compete with the Haihan people. The obsession with winning or losing is in it.If the winner is not completely determined, Yu Pingfeng probably won't let it go.

However, the Haihan people on Zhoushan Island had no time to care about Yu Pingfeng's mood. After solving the hidden dangers of Hainingwei and Qushan Island, Qian Tiandun and Shi Diwen returned their attention to their own affairs.And now they are facing the task of developing routes in Northeast Asia starting from Zhoushan.

After Haihan gained a foothold here in Zhoushan, the route to be opened up not only extended northward along the coastline of the mainland. In addition to Ming Dynasty, Ryukyu, Japan and North Korea also became the targets of opening up trade routes in the next step.

However, both Japan and North Korea need to sail thousands of miles across the sea from Zhoushan, and there are almost no replenishment locations in between, and maritime safety is also lacking.At present, the Executive Committee is also considering whether to establish a direct route, or to establish a strategic fulcrum in the East China Sea close to Japan and North Korea, and settle in the form of a colonial trade port to ensure that Haihan's ships going to Northeast Asia can receive basic supplies and supplies. security.

As for the location, it is not difficult to choose, there are only two places in total, one is Jeju Island at the southern tip of the Korean Peninsula, across the sea from the mainland, and the other is the Goto Islands near Hirado, a trading port in western Japan.Both places have their pros and cons.

Jeju Island is a volcanic island with an area of ​​more than 1800 square kilometers. It is about 50 nautical miles away from the Korean Peninsula. It is separated from Japan by the Korean Strait to the east, and the Yellow Sea from Daming to the west. It is about 300 nautical miles away from Zhoushan Island.

Although Jeju Island belongs to the territory of Goryeo at this time, the Yuan Dynasty before that clearly belonged to the territory of China. It was not until decades after the Yuan Dynasty was overthrown by the Ming Dynasty that the local Tamna General Administration Mansion surrendered to Goryeo. , So far Jeju Island has changed hands.

If you want to build this place as a stronghold or a colony, the area is large enough, but the resources and manpower required for the corresponding development will also increase accordingly.Haihan has introduced tens of thousands of immigrants to the area after occupying most of Taiwan Island, but it can only expand a little bit of living area near the three ports.Although Jeju Island is not as big as Taiwan Island, it is not as simple as talking about occupying the entire island.

Another Goto Islands near Kyushu, Japan, is composed of five large islands, Fukue, Kuga, Naru, Wakamatsu, and Nakadori, and more than a hundred small islands.The total land area of ​​the entire archipelago is only about one-third of Jeju Island. Except for the small uninhabited islands without water sources and some special terrains, the land area available for development is very limited. In the long run, the development prospects It is not as good as Jeju Island.However, it is close to the Japanese trade port of Nagasaki, and the voyage from the southernmost Fukue Island to Nagasaki Port is only about [-] nautical miles, and there are many small and medium-sized natural ports between the islands. The construction and development costs of the trade transfer station will be lower than Jeju. The island is much lower.In addition, although this area is said to be the territory of the Hirado tribe, it is actually an extrajudicial area. Compared with Jeju Island, which is directly under the jurisdiction of Koryo, the risk of encountering resistance when occupying this area by force is correspondingly smaller.

According to the practice of the executive committee in the past, it must be to build a stronghold first, and open the navigation while occupying the land, without delay.Even if the route is to be opened first, in order to facilitate trade, supplies, and for the sake of security and subsequent expansion, armed strongholds and colonies will still be established in the local area, it is just a change of order.

Of course, building a colony first means investing a lot of money in development and construction, and opening the route first will dilute the subsequent construction costs accordingly.But which one to do first is still a two-pronged approach. In the end, the local situation and Haihan’s development goals in the local area must be considered. After all, what Haihan is short of now is not the cost of implementing the construction project, but the people who do it.Whether it is the most basic pure labor or the grassroots cadres and technicians who direct these labors, Haihan still has a huge demand gap.The relevant vocational training system has never been able to keep up with the expansion speed of Shanghai Han. This is also a long-standing problem since time travel.

In addition, when the executive committee makes such decisions, there will be a flaw that cannot be avoided, that is, the big shots in Sanya can't understand the actual local conditions of this era at all, and they can basically rely on knowledge hundreds of years ahead of time. Some fragments of records on maps and historical materials.And the plans formulated with such data often have great deviations.It is precisely because of this that the Executive Committee gave the front-line headquarters great autonomy in the operation to go north to Zhejiang, and did not set a clear timetable for the operation.

In the past few years of practice after crossing, everyone has realized that many things cannot be done freely with the help of black technology or foresight. The control area still needs to be stationed to occupy it, and the infrastructure project needs enough manpower to proceed smoothly.For Haihan's expansion plan in Northeast Asia, the executive committee is currently only giving guidance, but the specific decision should be based on the opinions of front-line personnel as the main reference.

Where Haihan will go next, the executive committee only gives a few candidate places, what criteria to make a choice, and what are the specific reasons, this is the responsibility of the frontline personnel.But what the Executive Committee did not expect was that, as commanders of two different arms, Qian Tiandun and Shi Diwen also had obvious differences in the selection of target areas.

"Jeju Island is a big place, and it can be used as a horse breeding ground and a comprehensive military base in the future. Although the development cost invested in the early stage is high, it can be self-sufficient in the later stage. It is definitely not a problem to support tens of thousands of people with local products. In the future, The expansion to the Sea of ​​Japan and the Sea of ​​Okhotsk and Bering Sea to the north can also use Jeju Island as a rear base." Qian Tiandun pointed to the map to explain his opinion.

Shi Diwen shook his head while listening. As soon as Qian Tiandun's words fell, he raised an objection: "The North Koreans are so poor that they can only eat radishes and pickles for a living. How much trade can we have with them? Why not trade with the Japanese?" In business, it’s easy to fool people with a lot of money. We can start by occupying a harbor in the Wudao Islands, with little investment and a short construction period. I think Japan is better.”

"But the Wudao Islands don't have much room for development, and the southernmost Fujiang Island is still a bit flat. If the population increases, it is estimated that food will have to be transported from outside to the local area." Qian Tiandun retorted.

"This is just a stronghold for excessive use." Shi Diwen said: "Is it possible that this place in Japan will be kept for hundreds of years before rebellion? In the end, you and I will be national heroes!"

Qian Tiandun couldn't laugh or cry when he heard it, he could only give a thumbs up and said: "Yes, yes, you are amazing!"

(End of this chapter)