Chapter 3656
Being able to travel on the same boat with Qian Tiandun will naturally provide a lot of opportunities for contact along the way, which is exactly what Dong Shangyi wants. Publicly and privately, he hopes to have more friendship with a legendary figure like Qian Tiandun. This kind of opportunity is far more difficult than visiting overseas on behalf of Fujian.
What makes Dong Shangyi slightly inconvenient is that his rival Li Yuande is another passenger invited to take the boat. Li Yuande's personal relationship with Qian Tiandun was obviously much closer than his.
Whenever Dong Shangyi wanted to find an opportunity to chat with Qian Tiandun, Li Yuande would appear "just in time" and intervene in their conversation intentionally or unintentionally, which made Dong Shangyi unable to mention some more sensitive topics. We can only talk about little nutritious gossip.
After two days on the ship, Dong Shangyi finally found a breakthrough point after many twists and turns. To be precise, he found Li Yuande's shortcomings.
Li Yuande was born as a businessman, while Dong Shangyi was born in the military and had experience in leading troops in the military. When it comes to military topics, Dong Shangyi is much more professional than Li Yuande.
Sure enough, after switching to a field that the other party was not so good at, Dong Shangyi had more say and could discuss some military ideological topics with Qian Tiandun.
Although Dong Shangyi is not a famous general and does not have many outstanding achievements, when his father Dong Yanyun arranged for him to enlist in the army, the troops under Xu Xinsu were already training the new army according to Haihan's guidance. Therefore, the military theory that Dong Shangyi learned was of the same origin as that of Haihan, and there would be no gap in communication.
Qian Tiandun was a little curious. Since Dong Shangyi joined the army at an early age and his fathers paved the way, he would have a bright future in the army. Why did he change his career and become a civil servant midway?
Dong Shangyi explained honestly: "Perhaps it was my limited military talents that disappointed my father. Later, he still hoped that I could inherit the family business and become a staff adviser."
This answer was somewhat beyond Qian Tiandun's expectations, but upon careful consideration, it was reasonable. Dong Yanyun was Xu Xinsu's most trusted aide. Since Dong Shangyi had not shown extraordinary talents in joining the army, it would be a wise choice to change to a civilian career instead of remaining inactive in the army.
Judging from the fact that Xu Yuzhuo arranged for him to visit overseas regions on behalf of Fujian and negotiate cooperation agreements with senior officials from various places, Dong Shangyi should have gained Xu Yuzhuo's trust. This may indeed be a development path more suitable for him than joining the army.
But Qian Tiandun could tell from the conversation with him that Dong Shangyi was not mediocre in the military. His change of career may have been more in compliance with the wishes of his father and the Xu family, rather than his personal wishes. .
This may involve the issue of power distribution within the Fujian Xu Group, which is not what Qian Tiandun wants to delve into.
Dong Shangyi has been studying the nautical charts of the Indian Ocean these days, so the question he asked Qian Tiandun can be regarded as in-depth: "As shown in the chart, the distance between Phuket Island and Ceylon Island is , which happens to be the east and west ends of a huge bay that spans more than 4,000 miles. Why didn’t the general choose to find a more suitable place to establish a port and stronghold on the coast of the bay? ”
Qian Tiandun said: "You mean that the special warfare division's approach takes greater risks, right?"
Dong Shangyi nodded and added: "The two places are so far apart, not only the daily supply transportation Inconvenience, in case of any emergency, the two places will assist each other It's a little too late, right?" Seeing that he asked seriously, Qian Tiandun patiently explained: "Your idea is reasonable, but our goal is different. What you want is to occupy the area along the Gulf. The choice I made was to control the routes in and out of this sea area. "
"Between two points, a straight line is the shortest. As long as the special operations division controls both ends of the bay and establishes a stable route between Phuket and Ceylon, then Theoretically, the entire bay is within our sphere of influence. These coastal areas are like meat that has been put into a bowl. You can eat it whenever you want!"
"As for the risks, there are definitely some, but I believe that the combat effectiveness of my soldiers is enough. Deal with opponents in this area.”
Qian Tiandun actually explained it very clearly, but Dong Shangyi, who was not familiar with the situation in the Indian Ocean region, still seemed to understand. He could only turn his head and look at the chart hanging on the cabin wall to compare and understand Qian Tiandun's plan.
Qian Tiandun added: "Of course, if others want to imitate my method, they will indeed face greater risks, and they may not be able to defend the advanced stronghold thousands of miles away."< br>
This time Dong Shangyi understood clearly. What Qian Tiandun meant was that this plan could only be executed by special operations divisions with superior combat effectiveness. If it were replaced by other troops, the effectiveness might not be guaranteed.
In fact, the fundamental purpose of Qian Tiandun's plan is to save as much resources and time as possible during the expansion process.
Only establishing two strongholds can control the entire Bay of Bengal and the Sea of Myanmar. There is no more efficient solution in the world. There are only a few armies in the world that have the ability to implement this plan, and the special warfare division is one of them.
Dong Shangyi could not fully understand the value of Qian Tiandun's words at the moment, but when he arrived at Hambantota Port at the southern tip of Ceylon Island a few days later and saw the coastal defense forts under construction on both sides of the harbor's entry and exit channel, he understood. Why is Qian Tiandun so confident in local security?
The port water area of Hambantota Port is not too large, but the relatively narrow access channel provides a natural barrier for safety here. As long as sea attack firepower is set up on both sides of the strait, it is easy to block the waterway and build a strong barrier outside the port.
As for the defense facilities against incoming land attacks, that is really Haihan's specialty. There are various bunkers, trenches, barbed wires, horse barriers and other defensive fortifications deployed outside the base, plus dozens of The gun positions used to deploy artillery constitute a defense line with a depth of tens of feet and a three-dimensional firepower network, which is enough to resist any form of attack.
The candidate to guard Hambantota Port is the famous desperate Saburo Takahashi Minami in the Haihan Army. With him taking command here, it is no wonder that Qian Tiandun can strategize in Phuket with confidence and boldness.
The location of Hambatota Port is considered a remote area out of reach in Haihan, so the immigrant population currently settled here is much smaller than that in Phuket.
But even so, Dong Shangyi noticed that there was still a very conspicuous Furifeng sign here. It seemed that Furifeng's business existed wherever the special operations division's soldiers reached.