1627 Rise of the South China Sea

Chapter 940 Strategic Location
After entering the inland this time, God finally stopped messing with Haihan. The exploration team seized the time to survey and sample the ore veins at the predetermined location, and returned to the seaside camp smoothly three days later.This time Zheng Zuo and Fan Ji happened to be there, and seeing the ore shipped back in the basket, they could roughly guess why the Haihan people had been here for so many days.

"General Yan, it turns out that you have come thousands of miles away to rob this island, because you want to mine on it!" Zheng Zuo said with a smirk on his face, thinking that he had caught Haihan.

"It doesn't look like iron ore. I don't know what kind of mineral deposits are buried on this island. Can General Yan reveal something?" Fan Ji didn't mean to go around in circles at all, so he asked directly.

"It's a tin mine." Since it happened to be seen by these two people, Yan Chujie no longer concealed it. Anyway, he will arrange people to come and settle down, and start mining the ore here as soon as possible. It won't take long to hide it.

"The Dutch don't know that there are tin mines on this island, so they just grow pepper here, but we will not ignore these buried treasures." Yan Chujie said proudly: "We will organize people to mine this place as soon as possible. From now on, this place will also be brought under the rule of Hai Han.”

Zheng Zuo and Fan Ji didn't think there was anything wrong with Yan Chujie's exaggeration about Haikou, on the contrary, they believed that this is what Haihan people should express.However, the mines of the Haihan people have never allowed foreign capital to enter, so they are more concerned about what benefits they can get from the mining plans of the Haihan people.

"You know what we lack the most." Yan Chujie knew the thoughts of these collaborators, and told them the answer directly: "We are short of labor."

The problem of labor shortage has accompanied almost the entire history of Haihan's fortune. If it were not for this problem, Haihan's development speed is estimated to be much faster than it is now.Every year, the Haihan Civil Affairs Department uses various means to move people in from outside to fill the growing demand for labor.

Annan is undoubtedly one of the big owners who transported people to Haihan. Before Haihan established official diplomatic relations with Annan, Haihan immigration ships had already begun to collect local civilians who had abandoned their homes and fled due to the civil war on the coast of Thanh Hoa. The early black soil port More than half of the labor force during development came from Annan.After the establishment of diplomatic relations between the two parties, the issue of immigrant population was also formally included in the agreement. At that time, the economically weak Annan court decided to exchange population for Haihan's military assistance, and successively exported tens of thousands of people to Haihan.Among them are not only a large number of displaced refugees during the civil war, but also a large number of prisoners of war, war criminals, and southern people who were deliberately exiled by the Annan court after the war.

These populations were allocated to various control areas of Haihan, and once became the main pillar of Haihan's infrastructure.However, after Haihan occupied the entire Hainan Island later, he gradually slowed down the immigration speed of Annan immigrants, so as not to affect the population structure in the controlled area.In the final analysis, Haihan is still a Han regime. In the early stage, it may need to rely more on foreign populations to support productivity, but in the long run, it must make the Han people account for the majority of the total population in order to stabilize its ruling foundation.At least in Hainan Island, the core area of ​​the rule, the proportion of Han people must be guaranteed.

As for overseas enclaves like Ambuna Island, out of practical considerations, the executive committee will not have too many requirements on the population ratio, even if they are not of Asian race.Among the multinational troops brought out by Roger this time, the proportion of Han people is the lowest among all militia troops, and the proportion of the population on Abunna Island is almost the same.

If Haihan wants to mine mineral deposits on Belitung Island, it is obviously a very cost-effective arrangement to transport labor from Sanya, which is [-] nautical miles away. The best way is to solve the problem of labor demand nearby, such as Capture or hire natives on the island, or import labor from neighboring friendly countries.

Of course, in terms of distance, Annan Vung Tau Port and Champa Saigon are also [-] nautical miles away from Belitung Island, which is really not that close, but the labor cost of these two countries is indeed much lower than that of Haihan Even if it is to hire its nationals to work, it is still more cost-effective than Haihan's naturalization from Sanya to resettle.If the two countries can provide labor, then it can indeed effectively alleviate the difficulty of Haihan in the initial development stage.

As representatives of national interests, Zheng Zuo and Fan Ji are naturally more concerned about the actual benefits they can get. Otherwise, the wages for labor service assignments are not very meaningful to them. Also extremely limited.

"You can get the right to call at the port here and the right to set up an office here." Yan Chujie can only give them the promise so far. After all, Haihan's current plan for this place is still mainly a mine. Foreign capital cannot be allowed to directly intervene in the operation, and it can only give them a discount that does not seem to be of much use.

Zheng Zuo shook his head and said, "General Yan, you are not being kind enough! Obviously the Dutch grow pepper on this island, how dare you say that you have no plans for this?"

Yan Chujie thought to himself that I forgot about this, and immediately said: "Okay, then add the right to develop plantations here, and as for the management method, we can refer to the practice of Ambuna Island."

In the past two years, Ambuna Island, where Roger is in charge, has developed a large area of ​​plantations, most of which are operated by foreign funds, of course, including investment from Champa and Annan.Although there are no wealthy businessmen in these two countries, the high-ranking officials and members of the royal family still have a lot of spare money, and there are no business opportunities to make a fortune in their country, but they can get a good rate of return by investing in the business led by Hai Han, so Zheng Zuo is particularly sensitive to this.After all, dozens of business projects have been invested in the area under Haihan's rule in his name, and he has full confidence in Haihan's ability to make money.

A few people agreed on the future plan of Belitung Island in a few words. As for how the Dutch will react to this in the future, Zheng Zuo and others don't care. With Haihan's thigh, even if the Dutch wanted to turn their backs, they would not find them.

After the fleet stayed in this estuary on the west coast of Belitung Island for nearly ten days, it left and continued to set off. 120 soldiers and construction personnel were left here to play the front station, and built simple docks and garrisons locally, waiting for follow-up large troops to follow up.

After leaving Belitung Island, the fleet continued westward to the neighboring Bangka Island. This large island with an area of ​​1.2 square kilometers was separated from Belitung Island by the [-]-nautical-mile-wide Spa Strait, and its west side was separated from Sumatra. The islands are separated by the Bangka Strait, which is less than ten nautical miles wide.The island is also rich in tin mines, but similar to the neighboring Belitung Island, the buried veins on this island have not been discovered by the world.Residents on the island make a living by fishing, hunting and gathering betel nuts, coconuts and other items that are naturally produced in the forest.

The route chosen by the fleet is to travel northwest along the Bangka Strait. From the chart, it can be clearly seen that after passing through the Bangka Strait, it will go northwest for about [-] nautical miles, which is the east of the Strait of Malacca. side exit.

The Strait of Malacca is undoubtedly the most important strategic gateway for the Indian Ocean to enter the Pacific Ocean. Although it bypasses the west coast of Sumatra Island and goes south, it can also enter the Pacific Ocean from the Sunda Strait. However, if you use the Andaman Sea on the west coast of the Malay Peninsula to the South China Sea Taking the voyage of the island as an example, it is about [-]-[-] nautical miles shorter to go directly through the Strait of Malacca than to go around the Sunda Strait. Taking the speed of the Dutch sailing ship as a reference, this can save about a week at sea.

However, before visiting this strategic location in the Strait of Malacca, the United Fleet also plans to go to a place on the way, which is Palembang near the northern exit of the Bangka Strait.

This place in Palembang became the birthplace of Srivijaya, a maritime power in South Asia in the seventh century AD. The historical records after the Song Dynasty called this country "Three Buddhas". The political center of this country was once located in Palembang. In the middle of the first century, the capital was moved to Zhanbei, four hundred miles to the north.Because its location is just at the center of maritime traffic, merchant ships from China, India, and Arabia will stop here and conduct various transactions.By the early thirteenth century, the kingdom still controlled two strategic locations, the Straits of Malacca and the Sunda Straits.

From the [-]th century to the present, after several regime changes, the regimes of Majapahit, Sumatra, and Aceh took turns to control this area. At present, it is an inland port city belonging to Aceh.About [-] kilometers upstream from the mouth of the Musi River, you will find Palembang City.

If there is an analogy to the status of this trading port in Aceh, it is similar to the function of Guangzhou City in South China. Therefore, when the United Fleet passes by here, it must also go to Palembang.However, the size of the flagship of the "Majestic Class" is a bit too large, and there will be problems with draft and U-turn after entering the inland river, so Yan Chujie ordered the large army to temporarily station near the mouth of the sea, and only sent two cargo ships to go upstream to visit the huge ship. port.

The main products of Palembang are wood carvings and ivory carvings, and Haihan probably doesn't like other things.Of course, the Haihan people did not make this trip specifically to purchase products, and sales were their top priority.In the market here, you can see some glassware and other gadgets produced by Haihan, but the variety and price are obviously far from those in Sanya.Haihan did not spend too much effort in sales promotion, and all the trial products he brought were divided up by local businessmen.

Of course, in addition to selling products, the caravan people did not forget to inform the local merchants of the sea route to Ambuna Island.The voyage from Palembang to Ambuna Island is only more than 400 nautical miles, and it can be regarded as the nearest place where Palembang businessmen can purchase bulk Haihan products.

After bidding farewell to Palembang, the fleet continued to head north along the east coast of Sumatra Island, and soon arrived at the Linga Islands at the east exit of the Strait of Malacca.This archipelago is mainly composed of two large islands, Linga Island and Xinji Island, and dozens of small islands, with a total area of ​​more than 2000 square kilometers. It is also part of the Riau Islands in the nearby sea.

Although there are many islands in the Linga Islands, they don't even have a good natural harbor. If you continue northward, you will arrive at Bintan Island.After the Strait of Malacca was occupied by the Portuguese in the last century, the Sultan of Malacca fled here and established the Johor Dynasty.However, at present, the Johor Dynasty is in a state of hostility with the Portuguese and Aceh on the island of Sumatra. The three parties are constantly attacking each other, and Johor, the weakest country, is at a disadvantage most of the time.On the contrary, after receiving military assistance from Haihan in the past two years, Portugal has gradually gained a foothold in this area. Even the Dutch who often attacked here in the early years have disappeared and given up their efforts in the Strait of Malacca.

As for the control of the Strait of Malacca, Haihan naturally included it in the must-win list long ago.However, at present, it is the Portuguese partner who controls the situation in the Strait of Malacca, and it is not easy for Haihan to tear himself apart and grab it.Moreover, the Malacca City area where the Portuguese built their stronghold, in Haihan's view, has neither a natural port nor the advantage of the terrain.It is no wonder that the Portuguese stronghold here in history was pulled out by the Dutch, and later even the control of the entire strait was taken away by the Dutch.

Since Haihan doesn't like the location of Malacca City and doesn't intend to grab the Portuguese's territory, he has to find another place to stay.Haihan has already planned for this, and that is Singapore Island, which is located in the north of Bintan Island and guards the main throat of the Strait of Malacca leading to the South China Sea.

According to the name in the historical records of the Ming Dynasty at this time, it should be called Temasek, which once belonged to the Malacca Sultanate, and was later inherited as a territory by the Johor Dynasty.However, the stronghold built here by the Johor Dynasty was completely destroyed by the Portuguese as early as 1611. At present, this place belongs to the three-no area that is unoccupied, unadministered, and undeveloped.

Travelers from 400 years later are naturally very aware of the strategic significance of Singapore Island, and the surrounding forces did not build a port here during this period, which undoubtedly gave Haihan the best opportunity to take advantage of.One of the key points of the joint fleet's South China Sea cruise is to land on this island with an area of ​​only 700 square kilometers.

Although Singapore's fresh water resources were very scarce in later generations, it was not a big problem in the 17th century, because the island actually had about [-] water veins, but its population was almost zero, which was different from the prosperous port city of later generations. The population density of different countries differs by thousands of times, so water resources will naturally not appear tense.

(End of this chapter)