Chapter 217 Strategy against Vietnam
The private salt trade is easy to say, it is just an idea to increase the production capacity of the salt farm in Victory Port, and the monthly transaction volume of 50 tons is no pressure for the current cargo fleet with eight 400-ton seagoing ships. , this weight only needs to be shipped on a ship. Now that the other party has offered a very generous price, this is simply putting fat on his lips, and Heitugang naturally agrees first. However, the arms trade involved too many aspects, and the Black Earth Port Management Committee did not dare to make the decision privately, so it reported the news first and waited for the executive committee to make a decision.
For the Executive Committee, this is really great news. Arms sales to Vietnam were originally one of the foreign trade strategies formulated by various departments at the beginning of Time Travel. The civil war between North and South Vietnam that lasted for several years was definitely a very good arms export opportunity for the Time Travel Group, which needed to quickly accumulate its first pot of gold. . Although the export of arms is similar to the export of salt in terms of commercial nature, its political and military significance is completely different from that of the salt trade.
Several senior executives of the executive committee had already reached a unified understanding when formulating the development strategy before crossing. They believed that the future crossing group would definitely not be limited to Hainan Island. It would be sooner or later that it would expand globally, but the process of outward expansion How China controls other political powers is something worth studying. Like the Mongols who killed and killed every place they conquered, this kind of mindless genocide was obviously not a method acceptable to the Time Travel Group. The Executive Committee believes that exerting military and economic control over contracting countries, allies, and servant countries, similar to that of several major powers in later generations, is a preferable solution for the future development of the Time Travel Group.
This method is far less expensive than relying on war to conquer the other side, and is less likely to arouse national hatred. It is in line with the executive committee's comprehensive expansion plan of "cultural stage, economic drama, and military control." In addition, the Time Travel Group itself has a large amount of Zentraedi technology in its hands, so it is relatively difficult to implement this plan. The technological gap of nearly four hundred years is something that other regimes in this time and space cannot catch up with. . Compared with the Ming Empire, which was huge and difficult to shake, the smaller Southeast Asian countries were undoubtedly the best test fields for this expansion plan.
As the military industry department continues to trial-produce new equipment, almost every type of weapon has developed both its own version and a foreign trade export version. The last time Li Nai visited Victory Port, Crossing Group had successfully sold the first batch of monkey version artillery specifically for external sales. Not only did this artillery have a shorter range than the version for personal use, but its designed service life was only for personal use. A little more than half of the original version. The most terrible thing is that if the granular gunpowder and tension tube specially made by the military industry department of the Cross-Travel Group are not used, the actual combat effectiveness of this monkey version of the artillery will be greatly affected. If the party buying the artillery wants to maintain the normal combat effectiveness of these artillery, it must purchase these expensive accessories from the Crossing Group for a long time. The same is true for the muskets.
In this way, although the forces using Haihan weapons seem to have greatly strengthened their military strength, they will always be restricted by the crossing group due to subsequent ammunition supply issues. And from an economic point of view, this follow-up cost cannot be underestimated. According to the calculations of the military industry department, the follow-up ammunition cost of the monkey version weapon during its normal service life will never be lower than the initial purchase price, and the actual cost of the ammunition The cost is not higher than the weapon itself, which is almost equivalent to making money twice by selling a batch of weapons.
Compared with the Fujian side, which was dominated by naval battles and intermittent fighting between powerful local powers, the scale of the civil war in Vietnam, which lasted for several years and resulted in millions of casualties, was undoubtedly much larger. Although Vietnam's monkey soldiers were still heavily equipped with bamboo and wood weapons at this time, and firearms were rarely used on the battlefield, this was good news for the Crossing Group, because it meant a blank market with huge potential. Placed in front of the crossing group. What's more, historical consultant Ning Qi also specifically pointed out that French missionaries should have begun activities in southern Vietnam at this time, and muskets from Europe would soon appear on the battlefields of the Civil War. At this time, the Crossing Group should take action in time to seize the market, even with one mouthful. Even soup cannot be left to the Western powers.
Unlike the predecessors who were eager to go north to compete in the Central Plains, the Executive Committee believes that the Haihan Crossing Group should first focus on the South China Sea, and then consider seizing power in the mainland after it develops to a certain scale. The so-called certain scale can be simply understood as population and resources. According to the calculations of the Executive Committee, if you want to participate in the struggle for mainland hegemony, you will need at least more than 50,000 army soldiers and a navy that can control the waters south of the Yangtze River Estuary, and this scale will continue to expand with the increase in occupied areas. The population base required to raise so many soldiers is huge, and the total existing population of Hainan Island is still far behind. Without enough population, even if the Crossing Group had coal and iron in its name, it would be difficult to have enough productivity to supply such a large army with supplies.
In view of such realistic conditions, in the development plan formulated by the Executive Committee, the first and most important task is the import of population, and the second is resources. We must first have productivity before we can have combat effectiveness.
Since the time of crossing, the main channel of population import has been from Yazhou. According to the latest census statistics released by the human resources department in September, the current population of naturalized residents in the group-controlled areas has exceeded 3,000, and about 75% of them are from the Yazhou area, including Congya Including the exiled prisoners imported from the prefecture and the mountain people of the Li and Miao ethnic groups.
10% of the people come from Danzhou, Qiongzhou Fucheng, Wenchang and other places north of Yazhou. These immigrants are mainly organized by various merchants and dental shops contacted by the Yazhou Office, and there are even people under Luo Shengdong. Soldiers' families. Luo Shengdong has now not only made a fortune from his private salt business, but also the group of people who follow him have also made a lot of money. Of course, these people knew that if they were caught doing this business, they would lose their heads, and their families would also be implicated. Some bold people simply moved their entire families to settle in Victory Port. They all know the policies of the Haihan people. As long as they are willing to obey and do things, they will definitely not be hungry when they arrive at Victory Port. The Haihan people will arrange all matters such as food, clothing, housing and transportation. Even Luo Shengdong has inquired with several familiar executive committee members several times to know when there will be properties for sale in Victory Port. He is also planning to set up a place to stay here just in case.
Another 10% of the people are from Vietnam. These people basically arrive at Heitu Port first, and then arrive at Victory Port on coal ships. Compared to those who stayed in Black Earth Port, these people who were able to come to the base camp were undoubtedly luckier. Most of these people are war orphans selected by the Black Earth Port Management Committee in accordance with the requirements of the Executive Committee. After arriving locally, they will be directly assigned to the Scout Camp after undergoing sanitary isolation and purification procedures, and become part of the Haihan military system. member.
The remaining 5% are immigrants from the mainland. These people are basically down-and-out craftsmen recruited by "Fu Ruifeng". Among them is Zhang Tiangui, the current chief naturalized technician of the shipyard. The number of this group of people is not large, but most of them have special skills. After arriving in Victory Port, they quickly received better living conditions.
As for the hundreds of people who are still alive in the labor camps, according to the "Regulations on the Management of Naturalized Citizens" formulated by the Executive Committee, these people do not enjoy the rights of naturalized citizens and will not be included in the census of naturalized citizens. Go to the chemical data.
In addition to these naturalized citizens, there are currently about five to six hundred people in the Shengli Port area who have not yet obtained the qualifications of naturalized citizens. Some of these people are mountain residents who are only willing to take short-term jobs, and the other part have arrived in Hong Kong not long ago and have not yet completed the health isolation procedures. These people, plus the more than 400 members of the Cross-Travel Group, bring the actual total population of the area controlled by the Cross-Travel Group to more than 4,000 people.
Six months, four thousand people, this is the population situation after traveling half a year. For the Executive Committee, this speed is slightly faster than expected. It was originally thought that it would take at least until the end of the year to reach this number, but now it has been achieved two months ahead of schedule. But for the current speed of production development, the population is still far from enough. Not to mention anything else, the new salt field development plan in Tielugang alone requires the investment of at least 500 people. However, the current establishment of the salt field commune is only about 500 people. The human resources department headed by Ning Qi is working on this And a headache.
How to acquire a large number of people in a short period of time is a topic that relevant departments have been studying before and after time travel. The population distribution in the north and south of Hainan Island is uneven. Most of the population is in the north, and the population in the south is relatively small. If the Crossing Group really wants to acquire a large number of people at once, the only way is to attack Yazhou City. However, this idea is obviously unrealistic. Being an enemy of the Ming Dynasty is not the current choice for the Crossing Group. Moreover, the existence of the Yazhou local government can also provide a good cover for the Crossing Group that has not yet fully fledged. Attacking Yazhou is technically difficult to achieve. Not big, but the actual meaning is that it does more harm than good. Similarly, it is almost impossible to acquire a large number of people from any city on Hainan Island in a short period of time. Although many people come to Victory Port by boat from the north every month, But this speed is indeed too slow for the crossing group.
After leaving Hainan Island, there are only two closest places, one is the mainland and the other is Vietnam. It is not impossible to immigrate a large number of immigrants from the mainland, but now South China is basically in a period of peace. If you want to make people leave their hometowns and settle on an island without attracting the attention of the government, you can only lure them with benefits, but this is undoubtedly It will greatly increase the cost of immigration. Therefore, the current immigration policy of the Executive Committee towards the mainland is still focused on craftsmen and sailors, supplemented by the charity organization set up by the Guangdong Office in Guangzhou to recruit immigrants from the mainland in a small and targeted manner. Considering the current transportation capacity between the two places and the influence of the Guangdong Office in Guangzhou, the number of immigrants that can be sent back to Victory Port every month is probably only a few hundred.
Looking in the other direction, the cost of crossing group immigration from Vietnam is relatively low. The civil war caused a large number of war refugees to flee from the war zone. In the first month of the development of Black Tu Port, more than 3,000 refugees have been collected from the coastal areas of Vietnam, and its population growth rate has greatly exceeded that of the base camp. According to comprehensive analysis by relevant departments, due to the protracted civil war in Vietnam, the potential to obtain immigrants from the local area is still great. These refugees who have fled their homes often have to choose to board a ship crossing the group to go to Black Earth Port or Victory Port in order to have a stable environment. All they need to pay for crossing the group is the freight and food consumption on the road. It is said that it is even lower than the immigration cost of prisoners from Yazhou - those exiled prisoners with less serious crimes imported from Yazhou have to be returned to the Yazhou government based on the number of heads.
Another benefit of Vietnamese immigration that cannot be ignored is the sense of cultural closeness and identity. Most of these immigrants speak the dialects of Guangdong and Guangxi, and there is not much language barrier. This is more beneficial to arranging their production and life in the Shengli Port area, and makes it easier to integrate into the local society. Although there was a group of anti-Vietnam elements headed by Yan Chujie who held objections in the early days, when these people saw that the Vietnamese immigrants brought back were almost the same as the Ming people in Guangdong and Guangxi at that time in terms of clothing, appearance and language. , a considerable number of people can even have conversations directly in Chinese, and this kind of opposition has gradually disappeared. After all, Vietnam at this time did not even have its own spoken and written language, and these immigrants would no longer have any national identity to uphold after arriving in Victory Port.
With the expansion of trade with the North Vietnamese regime, the Executive Committee believed that just relying on a few coal ships to bring people back once or twice a month could no longer meet the needs of the increasingly accelerating local development, and must find ways to improve the situation. The efficiency of immigration importation in Vietnam is good. The best way may be to start with trade methods, such as directly exchanging salt or arms for population.
Of course, in the final analysis, trade is just a means, and the solution to the immigration problem must be viewed from a higher perspective. Exchanging goods for population is only a relatively low-level solution. The Executive Committee believes that the relationship with Vietnam should take a longer view - simply think about how to control the situation in Vietnam and make the local regime more "voluntary" "Transport the population to Haihan.
In this way, the problem has returned to the beginning, how should the Cross-Travel Group grasp the appropriateness of dealing with external political power, whether it should fight, pull or control, and how to start and what means to use in order to achieve the purpose of control.
If you want to control the situation in Vietnam, you can only use the methods mentioned before, including politics, economy, culture, and military. Politics can be regarded as a dead end for Vietnam at present. No matter the north or the south, powerful ministers are now in power. They don't even want to sell the face of their own emperor. How can it be possible for external forces to easily intervene in the domestic political situation? So this The roads are almost impassable.
There are many economic methods. For example, the current smuggling of salt is a good intervention channel. But the problem is that achieving economic influence through trade is not something that can be achieved overnight. Not to mention that the salt production capacity of the Cross Group is still very limited. Even if the production capacity is large enough to provide unlimited supply, it is not possible to influence the economy of a country with a single product. Still unlikely to happen. Only when products are diversified in the future and Haihan's economic system is gradually introduced into trade with Vietnam will it be possible to slowly exert influence on his regime with the help of some financial means.
Culture, like the economy, is also a soft means that is slow to produce results. It will take several years to achieve results. The French had been missionary in Vietnam since the early 17th century and began to establish influence there through cultural import. However, until the Franco-Vietnamese War occurred two hundred years later, the effect of this cultural import was still not obvious, and the French invaders still It encountered stubborn resistance from the guerrillas organized by the local people themselves. And this war also fully demonstrated that it would be difficult for foreign colonists to conquer this country that is soft on the outside and strong on the inside by relying on pure cultural or military means.
Of course, the Executive Committee, which has gained hundreds of years of experience, still has a military method at its disposal, which is to control the opponent's armaments. This is a method commonly used by technologically advanced military powers in later generations. Whether it is sales or assistance, controlling a regime's armaments to exert influence on its domestic political situation is a relatively peaceful military method. Control methods, supplemented by establishing military bases, formulating common defense plans, etc., can more effectively control some relatively weak regimes.
The Executive Committee had such plans for the arms export trade, and the fact that Black Earth Port has sent back the news that the other party intends to purchase arms has undoubtedly provided an opportunity for this strategic approach to be implemented. Regardless of whether it is considered from an economic, political or military perspective, the Crossing Group cannot miss such a good opportunity to intervene in Vietnam's political situation. The next question is to send people to negotiate with the Vietnamese. What arms does the other side need, how should we price it, what is the transaction method, and what conditions should we impose on this arms trade? These all have to wait. A decision can only be made after the dispatched representatives negotiate with the Vietnamese side.
When it comes to business discussions, Schneider is the first person in the group to recommend him. However, Schneider is also very busy in Guangzhou and has no time to spare. Besides, even if we wanted to bring him back, it would still take about a week to send a fast sailing boat back and forth. The Executive Committee did not intend to wait for such a long time in vain. After internal discussions, the Executive Committee decided to organize a special inspection team to go to Vietnam to discuss the matter. Out of careful consideration, this inspection team will be personally led by Tao Donglai in order to discuss some major issues during the negotiation process. Make decisions on the spot. Of course, in order to implement the spirit of democracy, this decision-making power is also a temporary decision-making power sold to Tao Donglai after the entire executive committee voted.
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