1627 Rise of the South China Sea

Chapter 905 Taipei Construction
For Haihan, the future development and expansion in Northeast Asia is very likely to be accompanied by a series of wars, so various situations must be taken into consideration in the preparation stage.Although these countries and local forces are certainly inferior to Haihan in terms of force, Haihan's military has always been prepared for a rainy day, and is used to making full preparations and directly crushing opponents with powerful strength in actual combat.

However, with Haihan's current comprehensive strength, it is difficult to attack two alternative locations on Jeju Island and Kyushu Island at the same time. We can only choose one of them as the main target according to the actual situation, and then slowly plan for the next one after occupying it. .These two alternative locations have their own advantages and disadvantages, but as the military's position, it will definitely give priority to Sasebo Bay, which is easier to deploy the fleet.However, to deploy the fleet to a remote location more than 2500 kilometers away from the Sanya base camp, command and dispatch, maintenance, training and operations will all become new issues that the military needs to deal with carefully. It is also difficult to get approval when the committee discusses it.

Qian Tiandun and Shi Diwen basically agree that the military value of Sasebo Bay is greater than that of Jeju Island, and it can be used as a springboard to set foot in Japan eastward and march northward to the Korean Peninsula.In addition, in the future, Haihan will explore the Sea of ​​Japan, Sea of ​​Okhotsk, and Bering Sea to the north, as well as the Pacific Ocean east of Japan. Sasebo Bay can also be used as a starting point for the fleet.The most important thing is that Sasebo Bay is currently an undeveloped area. Haihan will encounter much less resistance and resistance than Jeju Island when he goes to settle there. , and it is obviously impossible for Jeju Island to achieve such a condition.

As for the cost of building a military base in Sasebo Bay, it is not a big problem. This time the military has made a lot of money in the Zhoushan Islands, and it is now in a relatively affluent time.The next thing to do is to compile Chen Yixin's investigation results into a written report, and then send it back to Sanya for discussion by the military's senior management and the executive committee. Naturally, there are many articles to be written in this report drafted by the military. Add some guiding content, so as to increase the probability that the Executive Committee will finally choose Sasebo Bay as the next overseas military base.

However, even if the Zhoushan base is eager to move eastward immediately, it still has to wait for the Military Commission to attack the Eighteen Zhiyu Party on Miyako Island east of Taiwan first.In the final analysis, Haihan's own military strength is limited. When fighting in one place, it is often necessary to mobilize troops from multiple regions. If combat operations are launched in multiple places at the same time, the strength of the troops will immediately become stretched.Therefore, the attack on Miyako Island and the march into Northeast Asia cannot be done at the same time, and can only be completed one by one.

To attack Miyako Island, Penghu and Taiwan Island will become forward bases because they are the closest to the destination, and the military will complete the assembly and preparation of troops here.However, considering the current construction situation in the Taipei area, it is still relatively difficult to maintain the stationing and combat needs of a large-scale fleet.

While discussing and researching Northeast Asian issues at the Zhoushan base, on the coast of Jilonggang, the convicts are building the wharf under the scorching sun under the yelling and cursing of the foreman.Most of these hard labor were pirate captives from the Zhoushan Archipelago. After being captured, they were packaged and shipped to Jilong Port, which was seriously short of labor, where they performed heavy physical labor for Haihan.

The supervisor who directs this group of hard labor here is Li Maozai, who also stayed in the hard labor camp for a long time. He was a foreman in the hard labor camp. Or continue to do the old job, and the object of management is the people in the hard labor camp.In the large-scale projects on Hainan Island in recent years, as long as there are hard labor camps involved, Li Maozai has participated in almost all of them.

However, his dark past is too deep, and it is difficult to get ahead no matter what he does in Hainan Island, and it is impossible to return to his hometown in Panyu, Guangdong. After all, he has been expelled from the Li family, and he will no longer be included in the clan in this life.So when Taiwan Island recruited naturalized personnel who voluntarily went to work in the area, someone gave him an idea to start over in Taiwan.Li Maozai made sense when he thought about it. After all, few people in Taiwan knew him well. Maybe he could have a chance to start all over again, so he signed up to come to Taiwan and was assigned to work as a supervisor in Jilonggang.

The construction project Li Maozai is responsible for is located at the wharf on the west bank of Jilong Port. It is said that it will be used to dock military combat ships in the future, so the requirements for engineering quality are higher than those of civilian wharves.The time limit given by the military and the Ministry of Construction requires that the first phase of the project be completed before the end of the year. However, there are only four months left until the end of the year, and the progress of the project has only been completed by one-third. If this speed continues until the end of the year , will definitely not be able to complete the work, and Li Maozai, the supervisor, will also bear certain responsibilities by then.

Li Maozai was naturally very anxious about this. His original intention of coming to Taiwan was to gain a high-level labor title by virtue of his performance here, otherwise it would be difficult to get married and start a family.Since Haihan introduced a large number of young and strong male immigrants as a labor force in the past few years, the ratio of men to women in the area under Haihan's rule is still seriously unbalanced. A large number of bachelors are difficult to solve personal problems, and women of marriageable age often stay at home. If you have the capital to pick and choose the man, you must have the status of a naturalized citizen. Needless to say, those who can have the position of a cadre or a senior skilled worker, because they enjoy better benefits, are also in this market. It is relatively more popular.

Because of Li Maozai's dark past, it is more difficult for Li Maozai to be promoted to a senior title than ordinary people, and his tolerance rate for work is also lower, so he can only transfer the pressure to the hard labor under him, forcing these people to work overtime Do more construction, and strive to complete the task before the end of the year.

"Don't stop! You slackers, hurry up and work!" Li Maozai held a short leather whip in his hand, and while patrolling the construction site, he scolded the hard laborers: "Don't think that this is the hardest place. You are lucky if you are not sent to mine in the mountains! Let me tell you, whoever is lazy the most, I will send him to mine!"

Li Maozai's "mining" naturally refers to the Jinguashi gold mine in the deep mountains more than ten miles away from Jilonggang.The Jinguashi mining area has been mined since March this year, and it has been more than four months. Thousands of hard laborers have been put into local labor.However, the actual number of hard laborers working in the local area has always been only about 200. There is only one reason. The harsh local environment and super labor intensity have kept the death rate of hard laborers at a high level.According to the statistics of the mining department, about one tenth of the hard laborers died within a month of entering the mining area.There are only about [-] hard laborers who have survived from mining to the present.

For the hard labor sent to Jilong Port, being assigned to the mining area almost means that they will never return, so it is a relatively good arrangement to stay on the pier to build wooden piles and carry stones.However, compared with the area occupied by the Haihan Army in Zhejiang, the foundation of Jilong Port is obviously much worse. During the Spanish rule here, they only built a San Salvador city on Sheliao Island at the exit of the harbor, and By the time Haihan captured it, it hadn't been fully completed yet.As for the wharf facilities, it is even worse. The Spaniards only regard it as an anchorage, not a military base or a commercial port for planning and construction. port.

As for the local another trouble is the nearby indigenous people.Near Jilonggang is the settlement of the Basai ethnic group. The San Diao Society, the Jinbaoli Society and the Daguilong Society are the three largest tribes in the area.These tribes are still in a matrilineal society, and it is difficult to integrate with outside civilizations.Haihan's move to mine in the Jinguashi area is a very inappropriate act of invasion in the eyes of the natives who advocate nature. In the early days of mining, there were several incidents of natives attacking the mining site, which caused actual damage to Haihan's side. casualties.Afterwards, Haihan also decisively took some countermeasures, killing and wounding some militants among the aboriginals, and set up an early warning isolation zone around the mining area to carry out indiscriminate attacks on the aboriginals who entered this area.

The Basai quickly realized that the new faces who drove away the Spaniards were not easy to mess with, and the casualties caused by this confrontation were too much for them to bear, and then gradually stopped their attacks on the mining area.But so far, the two sides have only maintained the most basic peace. These tribes have not yet achieved official exchanges with Haihan, let alone any cooperative relationship.This also makes Haihan's original idea of ​​using local aborigines to supplement labor basically come to naught, at least not seeing the possibility of realization in a short period of time.

Although the Basai people did not cause irreparable losses to the mining area, they did affect the production and development progress of the mining area.Fortunately, most of the ore veins in the Jinguashi mining area are buried shallow, and there is no need to dig tunnels for mining. As long as the labor force is increased, the mining speed can be quickly increased.Of course, the current scale of mining cannot meet the requirements of Tian Yeyou, the mining director. In his opinion, at least two to three thousand miners should be invested in the mining area, and several concentrated ore veins should be excavated as soon as possible.

However, this requirement cannot be met for the time being, not only because of the limited number of hard labor and immigrants transported to Jilonggang Port, but also because of a series of supporting matters such as living arrangements, work management, and military defense. Adjust accordingly.However, Haihan currently has limited staff deployed in Jilong Port, and it is difficult to meet the needs brought about by the rapid population growth.

At noon, two sailboats slowly sailed into Jilong Port and docked at the wharf of Sheliao Island.Li Maozai put his hands on his forehead to block the glare of the sun and looked around. When he saw the military flag flying on the mast, he knew that it should be a troop carrier from Penghu.Since the beginning of August, troop carriers have arrived at Jilong Port almost every two or three days. Although the number of soldiers transported each time is not too many, it seems to have exceeded the normal local defense needs.Li Maozai also stayed under Hai Han's rule for several years, so he could naturally smell something unusual from this frequent army transfer.

At present, the Haihan Militia deployed in Jilonggang has a battalion of troops and eight combat ships. If it is only for the needs of regional defense, this kind of force is basically enough. However, new troops have been frequently brought in recently, and the original The troops stationed here did not switch defenses and left, which was obviously a precursor to some military action.

After getting off work in the evening, Li Maozai didn't choose to go to the cafeteria for a working meal, but went straight to a small restaurant in the port town.The cooks here are also trained from the kitchen school in Sanya. Although they have to pay for their own meals, they can eat better than working meals. Li Maozai's current income can also support such consumption.The most important thing is that some naturalized civilian cadres and military officers who work locally will also choose this place instead of going to the cafeteria to eat together with sweaty civilian husbands, so they can get some current affairs information in this place. For Li Maozai who wants to make progress, it is a very important source of news.

It is said to be a restaurant, but the scale of operation is actually not large. There are only four tables in the room. When there are many customers, the boss will set up two more tables on the roadside outside the gate.When Li Maozai finished work today, he was delayed for a while because of checking the tools. When he arrived, he had no seats in the house, so he could only enjoy the extra seats on the side of the road.

Of the two added tables, only one of them had a seat vacant. Li Maozai saw that the three people sitting at this table recognized all three people, so he hurried over to say hello and set up a table, and then ordered for himself. A set meal of two meat and two vegetables plus two drinks.

"Foreman Li's life is good!" The young man sitting next to him said enviously, "My income is only enough to eat a bean curd rice."

Li Maozai smiled and said: "Little Angkor is joking, you are a cultural person who can write and settle accounts, how can you compare with me, a coolie who moves bricks on the construction site every day, and you will be promoted to other places as a director in a year or two. I'm still moving bricks on the construction site!"

The person on the left continued: "Old Li is right. Chiefs like to employ educated people who are educated and reasonable. Xiao Wu, don't just look at the present, you will have a lot more future than your brothers in the future. Seventh Master, you said that is the truth Bar?"

Sitting across from Li Maozai was an old man in his fifties who was called "Seven Lords". Hearing this, he nodded his beard and said, "Master Qi is right. Xiao Wu was already famous as a scholar, and now he has joined the army and joined the militia. A talent with both civil and military skills will become a great weapon in the future!"

The other three people at this table are all Ming people with Haihan nationality. Qi Ye was originally surnamed Liu, and he was one of the immigrants left by Shibazhi on Taiwan Island. However, after the Haihan people came, he decisively took refuge in him. Several boats were transported in chicken cages, Danshui and Penghu.Master Qi is a shipwright transferred from Hainan Island, responsible for repairing and maintaining ships here.As for Xiao Wu, he joined the army in Penghu and was recently assigned to the chicken coop as a military secretary.

(End of this chapter)