1627 Rise of the South China Sea

Chapter 989
In the early days of the Haihan occupation of the Qiongbei area, Yan Chujie himself served as the chief military officer. Later, this position was taken over by Luo Jie, who had just returned to the military from the Ministry of Industry.After the situation in Qiongbei stabilized and Luo Jie went south to take office on Abuna Island, the command of the Qiongbei defense area, including Haikou City and Danzhou, was taken in turn by Yan Chujie and Wang Tom on a half-year cycle.However, these two have recently returned to Sanya because of the upcoming founding ceremony, and Qiu Yuan will temporarily exercise the highest local command.

Of course, in the current peacetime, it is unlikely that Qiu Yuan will be required to use command power, and he is not even allowed to interfere with the daily operations of the garrison.Today was also to welcome the arrival of the inspection team, Qiu Yuancai dispatched a team of cavalry to put on a show—this show was not for Ning Qi, but for the Dutch who was traveling with him.

Van Diemen did notice this small armed cavalry, not because of the cavalry muskets on their saddles and the sabers on their waists, but because the horses these cavalry rode were a bit special.These horses were tall and obviously not of the Far East breed. Van Diemen was sure that they should belong to Arabian horses and Andalusian horses from Europe, or a mixed descendant of the two.It must have taken a lot of effort for Haihan to be able to acquire such good horses in batches, and there must have been a fairly large population in order to deploy a cavalry team in a place like Haikou City.

The maneuverability of cavalry on land and the tactics of charging on the battlefield are the parts that every commander will pay special attention to, but while possessing powerful capabilities, the cost of training and maintaining a cavalry is also very high. The daily expenses are at least equivalent to three to four infantrymen, and the amount of food and supplies required far exceeds that of the infantrymen. Not only must fodder be fed, but also concentrates such as black beans, and salt should be fed when the combat intensity is high. .Of course, salt is not valuable in Haihan, and it can be filled at any time. The difficulty is mainly in the logistical supply during wartime.Although the cavalry has high mobility, the logistics troops may not be able to keep up.

Therefore, in order to maintain the combat effectiveness of the cavalry, the cavalry unit must not only have war horses, but also a considerable number of pack horses. For a cavalry team of 100 men, it is normal to have two hundred horses. The heavy cavalry may need to be equipped with an additional daily riding horse in addition to the war horse and pack horse. The Mongolian cavalry that swept across Eurasia even reached six horses per person Horse configuration.Of course, the current Haihan cavalry is far from reaching such a luxurious configuration. Just maintaining the formation of one man and two horses is already very expensive.

Non-nomadic people want to maintain an established cavalry, and the military expenditure is quite staggering. With the financial resources of the East India Company, in the past, they only maintained a 200-man cavalry team in Batavia.However, due to the tragic previous battles, this cavalry team was also completely lost in the battle with the Mata Blue Army. It is currently undergoing post-war reconstruction like other local garrison troops.However, since the war horses have to be transported to Batavia by sea from a distant place, it is still unknown when the cavalry can be reorganized. Fan Diemen naturally felt so nervous when he saw Haihan's well-equipped cavalry. A little pantothenic acid.

It is about six or seven miles from the military pier where Ning Qi and others landed to Haikou City, and they arrived outside the city in a short time by horse-drawn carriage.The carriage stopped at the edge of the town outside the city, and everyone got out of the carriage one by one.This time Qiu Yuan did not carry his daughter out of the carriage, but asked his followers to take her back to the official residence in the city in a carriage.

Outside the west gate of Haikou City is not the main residential area. The people who live here are mainly military families, with a total of more than [-] households.Because the family backgrounds of these people are relatively consistent, the residential area outside the West Gate has become a small society, with schools, clinics, post offices, grocery stores and other service institutions dedicated to the military system, and security is also controlled by the military. The gendarmerie is in charge.

The town here is also as clean and tidy as in a military camp. There are no urchins chasing and fighting in the streets, and there is no smell of livestock manure. From Van Diemen's point of view, the cleanliness of this civilian settlement outside the city is even higher than that of a military camp. Danzhou City, which has just been inspected.

"Director Qiu, you didn't make a health raid just to deal with the inspection, did you?" Ning Qi was also a little surprised by this scene, so he teased Qiu Yuan and said, "There is no scoring or evaluation, it doesn't cost so much time."

Qiu Yuan couldn't laugh or cry: "Mr. Ning, you have wronged me. This is really not the result of a surprise attack, but has always been like this. It's not that I, Qiu Yuan, are bragging. If you come back anytime, it must be at this level." .”

"Oh? Speaking of which, the social work here is well organized!" Ning Qi knew very well that to maintain this sense of cleanliness, it's not just about sweeping the floor diligently. It also depends on the quality of the people reaching a certain level, or The rules and regulations are strict enough to provide protection.

"It used to be chaotic here, but since Tom Wang transferred Yu Tiezhu to take charge of the township, he has seized the work of city appearance and environment." Qiu Yuan explained the reason to Ning Qi: "During the first six months of his tenure, , There are not a few people who eat army sticks because of the crime of disorderly conduct. The neat and orderly streets you see now are more than half the result of his forcible beating with army sticks."

"So it's Yu Tiezhu! Where's the other person?" Ning Qi heard that this person was not an outsider, and immediately wanted to see the person involved.

Yu Tiezhu was one of the first batch of veterans in the local fishing village to enlist in the army after Haihan landed in Yulin.Relying on the accumulation of military achievements over the years, he has also been promoted all the way, and now he is a major battalion commander.In the case of Sanya where both Yan Chujie and Wang Tom returned, Yu Tiezhu is the officer with the highest rank and position here. Although he has to obey Qiu Yuan's orders, he is actually directly responsible for the management of the troops stationed in Haikou City. and commanded.As for the military-affiliated area outside the west gate, the land is assigned to the military, so he has the final say on local affairs.Because of its good management and remarkable results, Qiu Yuan will basically not interfere with the affairs here, and leave it to Yu Tie Zhu and the battalion headquarters to take care of it.

Not long after, Yu Tiezhu trotted all the way there, saluted, and quickly explained the reason why he didn't wait here in advance - his wife was giving birth at home, so he was worried, so he went back to have a look, but he didn't expect Just at this moment, the people from the inspection team arrived.

As soon as Ning Qi heard the reason, there was nothing to criticize, so he quickly stopped Yu Tiezhu's words: "Okay, don't apologize anymore, I am now representing the executive committee, ordering you to take a vacation immediately, and hurry back to watch over your wife and children Go! After the child is born, you can come to announce the good news."

After thanking Yu Tiezhu repeatedly, he trotted away again.Qiu Yuan said with a smile: "This guy never talked about family matters at all. If you didn't come this time, he probably would have passed by so silently."

Ning Qi said with a smile: "Anyway, I have also been his teacher for a few days, so there is still some teacher-student friendship."

When Haihan started to run literacy classes, this Yu Tiezhu had worked under Ning Qi's subordinates, and it is not a lie to say that there is a teacher-student friendship.It's just that Yu Tiezhu's talent in reading and literacy was limited. In addition, the army was in urgent need of employing people at that time. Yu Tiezhu's study career did not last too long. He could barely read and write seven or eight hundred commonly used characters.However, he has been promoted all the way in the past few years, and he has to write a lot of written reports. I think Yu Tie Zhu still studies in private to increase his knowledge.

Qiu Yuan nodded and said: "Later, I'll send some condolences to his home. Yu Tiezhu is a nice person. It's better to let him fully feel the warmth of the organization."

Everywhere Ning Qi went, he would visit the local educational institutions, and he was no exception when he came here. He mainly asked Qiu Yuan to lead the way to the elementary school here.

The military primary school outside the west gate has requisitioned the house of a local landlord. Of course, the landlord's family has already been sent to other places for resettlement, so there will be no disputes over property rights.There are four entrances in the yard, which are divided into three grades: junior high school and high school according to the progress of the curriculum. Due to the small number of students enrolled, girls are separately organized into a literacy class.There are more than [-] students in the military primary school, and the sound of reading can be heard from a long distance away.

The textbooks used here are also the basic textbooks uniformly compiled and distributed by the Ministry of Education of Haihan. Because it is a primary school directly under the Ministry of Education, the curriculum does not include the contents of the Four Books and Five Classics in ordinary private schools and academies. The teaching content is mainly literacy and common sense.Most of the teachers here have received special teacher qualification training in Sanya. Ning Qi went to a few classes, and even met several students who had studied under him and are now teachers here. Naturally, there is a lot of enthusiasm at the moment. Greetings.

As a military community, in addition to ordinary courses, the teaching here naturally also has some military-specific content.For example, teachers will not only teach the general knowledge of literature and history, but also tell the students about the previous battles that the Haihan militia participated in, so that these children can feel the strength of the Haihan army since they were young, and feel proud of the emerging country they are in. pride.According to Qiu Yuan, from time to time, active military officers and retired veterans will come here as guest lecturers, showing up to teach students basic military knowledge.

Although this military knowledge will not turn these half-grown children into soldiers, it can at least help them establish a preliminary understanding of words such as mission, responsibility, obedience, and courage, and their perception of the profession of soldiers will also be greatly improved.It is no exaggeration to say that the proportion of students who graduate from this kind of school will choose to join the army in the future is much higher than that of ordinary schools.Ning Qi could completely imagine that if Yan Chujie or Wang Tom were here, they would brag that this was the non-commissioned officer preparatory school of the Haihan Army.

"Do you find it a bit difficult to accept?" Seeing Ning Qi's serious face, Qiu Yuan asked him in a low voice.

Ning Qi nodded slightly and said: "It's always not good for the military to meddle in educational institutions so obviously. I have to report this matter to the executive committee after I go back."

Qiu Yuan persuaded: "Reporting may not be useful. The parents of these students are not soldiers but also members of the military. If they don't follow the military's wishes, the school's teaching will not be very smooth."

Ning Qi turned to look at him and said, "Could it be possible that the military still wants to threaten educational institutions with force?"

"My teacher Ning, you haven't been at the grassroots level for too long, and you don't understand the situation below!" Qiu Yuan could only patiently explain: "Think about it, all the students in this school come from military families. I feel dissatisfied with the changes, and it is possible to empty this school every minute. We don’t implement compulsory education now, are you forcing parents to send their children to school one by one?”

Ning Qi couldn't help frowning when he heard this, the situation Qiu Yuan said was indeed objective, and the education department really didn't seem to be able to come up with any effective countermeasures.A powerful department like the military actually has its own complete institutional system. If the military is willing, even educational institutions from literacy classes to national defense universities can be established by themselves.The reason why only high-level educational institutions such as military schools are now listed as vertically-managed units of the Military Commission is mainly because of the possible waste of resources caused by overlapping institutions, so primary educational institutions are still all under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Education.

However, this division of organizational establishment does not mean that the education department can completely control the grassroots educational institutions. Similar to the military primary school here, Ning Qi really has no way to change the teaching method and content here.And watching the teaching here "changing flavors" made him feel that he seemed to be a little negligent in his duties.

Thinking of this level of stakes, Ning Qi was in no mood to visit this small campus anymore.Looking at the neat streets and orderly people after leaving elementary school, Ning Qi suddenly felt a little boring: "Let's go, let's go to the city to rest."

The layout of Haikou City is actually not much different from that of Danzhou and Yacheng, but most of the Daming Yamen here have been requisitioned by Haihan. However, the office space of the Sixth Office of the Libing and Criminal Workers could not meet the needs of Haihan's official institutions with more subdivided functions, so some official residences and private houses in the city were also requisitioned by the government and became the offices of various departments.Even the residences of Dongchang and Jinyiwei, which used to be opposite each other in the city, now serve as the pharmacy and hospital in the city respectively.

Qiu Yuan didn't hold a reception banquet in a restaurant in the city, but directly held a family banquet, which made Ning Qi feel a little at home.Probably because most of the local landlords and wealthy gentry were relocated, there were not as many local figures as companions here as in the previous stops, only a few close subordinates of Qiu Yuan were present.They are all people within the system, so there is nothing to be taboo about.When the banquet was approaching, Yu Tiezhu, who had gone back to take care of his wife and gave birth, also rushed over.

(End of this chapter)