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Chapter 1104 The Unpredictable Prophet
"Well... the king is supposed to be helping His Majesty, but I am a lowly official and cannot make decisions on my own. How about this? I will tell the governor about the king's intentions, and as long as he gives the order, it will be done!"

At this point, I still can't relax. Even if I have the power to arrange it, I have to act extremely difficult and then find an excuse to push the responsibility onto others. The reason is simple. I will continue to be on duty here in the future. It is best not to have personal grudges with local officials. This is also the work requirement of the Navy Statistics Department.

"That's great, great. General, just go and report. I'll take a look around the area when I have nothing else to do. Wait for good news!"

If Captain Sun agreed to take on all the responsibility, the King of Ryukyu would definitely be worried. It was unreasonable for a captain to add or remove participants at will for the land reclamation matters that were secretly arranged by the emperor.

"Don't worry, Your Majesty. I can recommend you to the governor, but what should we do if the specific details haven't been finalized yet?" Seeing that the King of Ryukyu would rather hang around outside the base to wait for news, Captain Sun knew that the fish had entered the nest.

However, whether it is a big fish or a small fish still needs to be identified in the end. If you are only willing to buy a hundred acres of land and send a dozen people to make a small fortune, then don't bother the two governors. It is dispensable.

"Yes, yes, yes, it was my negligence. Uh... I wonder how about 1000 acres and 60 households?" Upon hearing this, the Ryukyu King slapped his forehead vigorously. Happiness came too suddenly, and he was a little too excited that he forgot about serious matters.

But when it came to reporting the number, he hesitated. If he said too much, it would seem that he was greedy and wanted to steal the show. If he said too little, it would not be worth bothering the admiral. After a long calculation, he tentatively said a number.

"Growing sugarcane is not like growing rice. One family can only take care of 20 mu of land. It is better to round up to 100 households. We should buy 3000 mu of land first, including the village, forests, and rivers. If we are short of manpower in the future, we can add more."

In the Ming Dynasty, a household was usually counted as 5 people, including 3 laborers. 60 households would be 300 people, which barely met the demand. But Captain Sun wanted as many as possible, so he added more.

"Just do as the general says! Please take the trouble to find a good place for me. After the matter is completed, the 100 acres of sugarcane fields will be in your name. You don't have to take care of it yourself. I will order people to take care of it."

The Ryukyu King did not dare to say too much, fearing that he would be offended, but he immediately smiled when he heard that it could increase the number of people. However, when asking someone to do something, you can't just use words to fill it up, you have to be a little practical.

But after so many years of getting along, he also had some understanding of the Imperial Navy. These generals had many strict rules and did not dare to accept bribes casually. Once discovered, they would lose their status at best, and at worst, they would have to do hard labor.

But rules are dead, people are alive. If the bribery doesn't work, let's do it secretly. If you don't tell me about this, who will know? As long as both parties are satisfied this time, they will come again next time if there is a chance. It's not a loss.

"Hehehe, then I'll be disrespectful to refuse. Please wait a moment, Your Majesty. I'll go back and report first, and I will definitely be back before dark!" Captain Sun did not refuse to be corrupted. He smiled knowingly, saluted with his fists, turned around and left.

Do the Navy Statistics Department investigators and Navy commanders dare to accept bribes? It cannot be said that they dare not. Every year, a small number of officers are punished for such behavior. This is also due to human nature.

Faith, ideals and high salaries can only reduce the proportion of evil in human nature to a certain extent, but cannot eliminate it. Harsh laws and severe punishments are also hindsight, and their deterrent effect is not enough to change human nature.

But Captain Sun was indeed fine. He had served at the Fushima Naval Base for more than four years, and during that time he had received bribes from the Ryukyu King and local officials many times, but he never embezzled them. He wrote a report and turned them in afterwards. This time was no different. On the surface, the income from the 100 acres of sugarcane fields was given to him, but in fact it was all entered into the public account of the Navy Statistics Department to pay for part of the activity expenses.

It is not for nothing. The Navy Statistics Department has detailed standards, and the surrendered property is counted as merit. If enough is accumulated, it can be promoted, which can be regarded as a kind of compensation. After all, the members of the Statistics Department are also human beings, and they have their own humanity. It is impossible for them to be completely dedicated to the public, so necessary rewards must be given.

When the matter came to Huang Nanping and Li Rumei, it was passed very smoothly. They didn't even ask any detailed questions. They just listened to the approximate number of people and which ship was assigned to be responsible for the shipment, and then they no longer paid attention to it.

The reason why they were so happy was not because the two naval commanders had received benefits from the King of Ryukyu, nor was it because they knew that Captain Sun's status was taken care of, but because they were following the emperor's orders.

It was not difficult to occupy the Hawaiian Islands. Even if there were natives living there, they would not be able to withstand the heavily armed Marines. It was also not difficult to build a naval base and port. Except for the huge cost of transporting various materials, the construction was no different from that of the Colombo Port.

The most difficult thing is how to operate it in the long term. It is definitely not possible to rely on the garrison and craftsmen alone. In that case, everything from food and drink to weapons and ammunition will have to be transported from the mainland, which is too expensive. It is necessary to make part of the supplies self-sufficient as soon as possible, or generate economic benefits to make up for the transportation costs.

Are there any natural resources in the Hawaiian Islands that can be developed and utilized? Hong Tao can responsibly conclude that there are none!

The area of ​​this archipelago is quite large, covering more than 10,000 square kilometers, with more than 100 islands of various sizes, eight of which have water sources and are suitable for long-term habitation.

But after God gave it a unique geographical location, he did not generously add resources. The entire archipelago can be said to be poor and produces nothing. The most distinctive feature is the volcano, there are several of them, including an active volcano that erupts from time to time.

Fortunately, the climate of these islands is not bad, the land is fertile, and there is no shortage of fresh water, which is good for farming, which is better than nothing. It is for this reason that Hong Tao decided to build a permanent naval base on them.

If the purpose was just to use it as a springboard for attacking the west coast of America, there would be no need to go to such lengths. Just find a sheltered harbor on an island, clear out a piece of land on the shore, surround it with wooden walls and trenches, and use it as a camp to store supplies.

Military farming is the future development direction designated by Hong Tao for the Hawaiian Islands. To be precise, a small part of the land is used to grow rice and vegetables, and some cattle, sheep and horses are raised on the hillside grasslands to meet the daily needs of the garrison officers and soldiers.

Most of the remaining arable land and reclaimable land will be planted with sugarcane, and sugar mills and breweries will be built on site. The goal is to turn it into an important production base of white sugar and sugarcane wine within ten years.

In fact, the later US government did the same thing in the Hawaiian Islands. The annual sugar production accounted for one-tenth of the total US consumption, and it was called the Sweet Islands.

(End of this chapter)