Chapter 232 Luo Shengdong’s little plan
Since time travel, the biggest bottleneck limiting the development speed of the travel group has been the population. In order to facilitate the early establishment, the original organizing committee chose a sparsely populated place like Sanya as the base. Being far away from the bustling areas did save the Crossing Group a lot of trouble, but at the same time, the development speed was also limited by the population here. Infrastructure projects that require a large amount of labor often progress slowly due to population constraints. The most common complaint heard by the Executive Committee from the grassroots is the lack of labor. Every time the executive committee comes up with a new project, the one that needs coordination most is not the financial department, but the human resources department that Ning Qi is in charge of. If he can't allocate manpower, no matter how good the plan is, it will only be on paper.
At present, many projects of the Cross Group have been planned on paper, but progress has been slow due to labor shortages, such as the freight track construction project from Tiandu to Shengli Port, the reconstruction and expansion project of the Saltworks Commune, and the upcoming railway construction project. Furnace port development projects, etc., all require a large amount of labor. According to calculations by the human resources department, if these infrastructure projects are to be started at the same time, the labor gap will be approximately 3,000 people. The immigration agreement reached by Tao Donglai and North Vietnam this time can be said to have fundamentally alleviated the shortage of local labor, and those projects that have been scheduled for next year are also expected to be completed in the remaining two this year. Implementation will begin in the middle of the month.
After this inspection, Tao Donglai also proposed to the executive committee to adjust the goals and tasks of Heitu Port and the Cliff Office. In the future, the Yazhou Office will gradually simplify various functions such as trade, military intelligence, and immigration, and gradually become a channel for external publicity and contact with Yazhou local governments. The Black Earth Port needs to let go of the management committee's hands and allow them to gradually start operating independently, including conducting business activities with North Vietnam and Guangxi on their own.
Of course, the Military and Police Department would not miss this opportunity. Yan Chujie had already expressed anger with Tao Dong, so he seized this opportunity to propose a new round of military expansion plan. Since most of the militiamen who traveled with Tao Donglai this time stayed on the Do Son Peninsula to undertake the preliminary construction tasks of the North Vietnamese training camp, the base camp needed to expand the establishment of at least one company to fill the gap. The population of Black Earth Port has exceeded 3,000, and now it is necessary to increase the establishment of a company to shoulder the increasingly heavy security tasks in the area.
The two requests for military expansion put forward by the Military and Police Department did not encounter much resistance and passed the vote relatively smoothly. The reason was mostly due to Tao Donglai's gains from this trip. The total arms order reached with North Vietnam this time exceeded 70,000 taels of silver. Excluding manufacturing costs and transportation costs, the gross profit margin was as high as 600%. In addition, there will be a large number of immigrants arriving in the future, which can be said to be a huge profit. It is reasonable for the Military and Police Department to allocate a fraction of this money to expand the militia establishment of the two companies. Even the most demanding executive committee cannot veto this request. What's more, Tao Donglai also specifically stated that the cost of the newly added company in Black Tu Port will be borne by North Vietnam in the form of military consultant fees. Since I don’t have to spend any money, there’s nothing to object to.
Of course, as for the actual nature of the new company in Heitu Port, neither Tao Donglai nor Yan Chujie took the initiative to mention it at the executive committee, and they still only used it as "militia". They considered that the establishment of this new company is actually of a certain experimental nature, and it is not appropriate for other executive committee members to have too many expectations about it, in case Qian Tiandun makes a mistake and fails to achieve the expected training effect. , that would at least train a company of militiamen for the Military and Police Department, and they would be able to report to the Executive Committee at that time.
In addition, the expansion of militia training will also be gradually implemented starting from this month. All adult men aged 16 to 40 among naturalized citizens must receive no less than three days and no more than seven days of militia training every month. This kind of militia training does not allow ordinary people to learn how to operate guns, and the Military and Police Department does not intend to engage in any gimmicks such as "all people are soldiers". The training content is mainly military discipline training, supplemented by a small amount of combat skills. To put it bluntly, the purpose is to let these people learn to abide by the military's system, so that they can be directly taken out to be used as logistical equipment during wartime. As for combat matters, it is better to leave them to the increasingly professional, full-time soldiers.
After the affairs of the Military and Police Department were settled, the Executive Committee began to focus on the next two major projects.
The first project was preparations for the reception of North Vietnamese immigrants. According to the agreement between Tao Donglai and Zheng, North Vietnam will provide 2,000 people to the Crossing Group every month in exchange for long-term commodity discounts. However, the existing immigration reception capacity of Victory Port is only 500 to 800 per month. They are just people. If preparations are not made in advance, the arrival of a large number of North Vietnamese immigrants in Hong Kong will inevitably cause all kinds of chaos. However, this is not the first time that everyone has done this kind of immigration acceptance work. Everyone has their own idea of what each department should be responsible for.
Tao Donglai said: "The existing immigration quarantine area needs to be expanded to accommodate more new immigrants at the same time for quarantine observation. In addition, each unit will allocate new immigrants, so new residences need to be built. . I will coordinate with my colleagues in the Construction Department tomorrow to start construction as soon as possible.”
"As for sea-going ships, the ship purchased by the Chinese People's Liberation Army in Guangzhou in Guangzhou is already on its way back. It will arrive at the port probably within this week. At that time, our shipping department will conduct simple modifications on the ship and then start shipping it to Vietnam. The immigrants will come back. In addition, two ships will be delivered to us in Qiongzhou Prefecture in November, which can be temporarily used as immigration ships. With three special Dafu ships as a guarantee, 2,000 people can be loaded in only two trips every month. " Yue Zhiyun expressed his position on behalf of the Ministry of Shipping.
"The one with the greatest pressure should be on my side." Ning Qi said: "Every month, the burden of food, clothing, housing and transportation is increased for thousands of people. Housing and transportation are the responsibility of your two departments. For food and clothing, we have to rely on the civil affairs department. . Food is okay, we currently have sufficient food reserves, but clothing is a troublesome matter. 70% of the fabrics produced locally in Yazhou are now owned by us. This is not enough. We must import fabrics from Qiongzhou or even Guangzhou. Okay. Besides, we don’t have enough tailors, so it might be too late to distribute ready-made clothes to the new immigrants.”
Tao Donglai nodded to express his understanding: "We can only do our best. If it doesn't work, contact the Guangdong Office and ask them to order a batch of ready-made clothes in Guangzhou. Anyway, it's just labor protection clothing. There is no need to pay attention to the style or fabric. As long as It’s enough to be durable. Let’s talk about the second thing. How is the preparation for the Iron Furnace Port project going?”
Ning Qi said: "The Tielugang project is in charge of the project team from Anxi, but they go back to the Saltworks Commune at night, and they won't be able to see anyone until tomorrow morning at the earliest."
Tao Donglai said: "The Tielugang project must be accelerated. After the immigrants from North Vietnam come, try our best to conduct centralized resettlement. The original plan for Tielugang was to resettle 500 people, but now our source of immigrants is guaranteed , I think this number can be expanded appropriately.”
Yan Chujie continued: "It's great to have so many people. When the time comes to train a militia there, we won't have to worry about the Ming Dynasty garrison in the direction of Lingshui."
"Lao Yan, you are just trying to expand the establishment, right?" Ning Qi said with a smile: "How many people are there in the garrison in Lingshui? Do you think we don't know? Last time Luo Shengdong came over, I asked him specifically, and he said over there Although there is a establishment of one thousand households, the shortage accounts for more than half. In fact, there are only more than 300 people, and more than half of them are old and weak. In terms of combat effectiveness, they may not be as good as the garrison in Yazhou. "
"Military defense is to nip problems in the bud!" Although Ning Qi exposed the real purpose, Yan Chujie still counterattacked without taking it seriously: "When Tieliang Port is developed, that place will become the eastern part of our control area. At the gate, even if we don’t build a fort and bunker, we still have to station some military personnel.”
"The militia establishment in Tielugang can be slowed down a little, and it won't be too late to resettle the immigrants." Tao Donglai ended their discussion: "Our strategy is still based on defense and gradually seeking development. Currently, The main body of defense is Victory Port, and there is no need to establish defense forces in advance in Tieliang Port.”
The next morning, Tao Donglai met the Tielugang project preparatory team at the base. This team is headed by Anxi, who is the only one with experience in salt field construction, and also includes personnel from the construction, military and police, shipping, agriculture, civil affairs, health, culture and education departments. There have been organizations like this before - the preparatory group for the Black Earth Port Project was much larger than this, with almost half of the executive committee being members of the group.
Anxi explained the current project preparation progress to Tao Donglai in detail. At present, after three on-site surveys, the Ministry of Construction has planned the local residential and production areas and formulated corresponding construction plans. Various required building materials are also being prepared.
The Ministry of Shipping has also formulated corresponding transportation plans for materials and personnel. Since the two places are very close to each other, maritime transportation does not necessarily require as many large ships as the ones developed to develop Black Earth Port. Several existing ships are slightly smaller. Small sailboats can also complete it, it just requires a few more trips back and forth. And Anxi also has an idea - when the Black Earth Port was developed last time, because of the lack of maritime power, the executive committee spent money to hire warships from Yazhou Water Village to act as temporary bodyguards in Victory Port, and this time if faced with insufficient maritime transport capacity, Regarding the situation, we can completely follow the same example and ask Yazhou mercenaries for help again. I believe Luo Shengdong will be very happy. The Military and Police Department will station one to two platoons of militiamen in the early stages of Tieliang Port's construction to be responsible for local security and defense. However, if Tieliang Port is really used as a key resettlement area for North Vietnamese immigrants, then the population will definitely increase greatly. At that time, the number of troops stationed in the Military and Police Department will also increase, and expansion will follow - this is what Tao Donglai did before At the meeting, he said "take it easy" but did not deny Yan Chujie's reasons.
This series of preparatory work does not have to wait until the North Vietnamese immigrants arrive. The executive committee’s plan is that the sooner the better, it is best to take the immigrants directly to Iron Furnace Port when the immigrants can be loaded back from North Vietnam. Settlement and resettlement. For Chuanchuan Group, the development of Tielugang is urgent, because Guangzhou has sent back news that the private salt promotion activities of "Furuifeng" in Fuguang area have obviously achieved results. They hope to start from the beginning of the year. The trading volume of salt between the two places increased to more than 120,000 jins per month. In view of the fact that a supply plan of 100,000 kilograms per month has been reached with North Vietnam before, the current salt production is no longer able to supply the needs of both places at the same time, not to mention that the salt consumed by the industrial production of the Chuan Chuan Group is not a small amount. It must be supplied to Luo Shengdong, a private salt dealer, for his sales needs in various parts of Hainan Island.
October 16, 1627, the first day of September in the seventh year of the dawn of tomorrow. As soon as it got dark, a fleet sailed out of Victory Harbor and turned towards the east. This strange fleet not only includes the Fu Chuan and Guang Chuan that are common along the southeastern coast, but also several large and small warships from the Ming Dynasty Navy. This is the first colonial fleet sent by the Crossing Group to Tieliang Port. fleet.
This time the colonization fleet really followed Anxi's suggestion and hired warships from Yazhou Water Village again. Luo Shengdong heard that a new salt farm was going to be built here to expand production capacity. The day before, he brought several ships to Victory Port - the supply of Haihan refined salt was tight recently, and even if he came in person, he couldn't Instead of picking up goods of three to five thousand kilograms casually like before, it has returned to the initial quantities of one thousand or two thousand kilograms. Such a small amount of salt can barely supply Yazhou's needs. There are still many roads in the north waiting for Luo Shengdong to supply. He has long been looking forward to the Haihan people to build a new salt farm soon.
Luo Shengdong's relationship with this place is getting deeper and deeper now. He himself has a bit of a "break the pot" mentality. He didn't stay on his warship at all, but shamelessly got in before setting off. "Speed" - Not only Anxi's preparatory team went to Tielugang this time, but Tao Donglai and Yan Chujie personally went to take command, and these Haihan dignitaries were all staying on the "Speed". The people on the "Speed" have long been familiar with Luo Shengdong, knowing that this guy has become most of the leader, and there is nothing to guard against him.
As soon as the boat left Yulinjiao, Luo Shengdong came next to Tao Donglai: "Mr. Tao, can I delay you for a moment?"
Tao Donglai glanced sideways at him, nodded, and walked to the front of the deck. Luo Shengdong hurriedly followed and asked in a low voice: "Mr. Tao, this time you are going to build a new salt farm in the east with great fanfare. I wonder if there is a solution for the source of labor?"
Luo Shengdong often travels between Shengli Port and Yazhou, so the manpower gap in Shengli Port cannot be hidden from his eyes. Tao Donglai glanced at him warily and did not answer. Luo Shengdong quickly explained: "I have no ill intentions, and I don't want to find out your true identity. I just want to say that if you have enough workers, why not directly occupy Phoenix Town? There is a large area of unclaimed wasteland there. , if you can develop fertile land, it will be enough to support 70,000 to 80,000 people.”
Tao Donglai thought to himself that it is not enough for you to be the leader, and you are planning to seek glory from the seller. He immediately said with a smile: "If we occupy Fenghuang Town, won't the Yazhou government be dissatisfied?"
Luo Shengdong said disapprovingly: "What's the dissatisfaction? As long as the annual grain tax is paid, the government will not care who cultivates the land and who owns the land! What's more, the registered acres of land in that place are very small, and the land tax is not paid at all in a year. It’s not much money.”
"Oh?" A certain string in Tao Donglai's heart was plucked by these words. The Chuanchuan Group has always considered whether its outward territorial expansion will arouse dissatisfaction or even hostility from local officials, but it seems to have ignored the possibility mentioned by Luo Shengdong - as long as there is income, Ming Dynasty's rule will be recognized. , the local government would not care who is in charge of this place. Haihan is just a landlord in the vast territory of the Ming Dynasty, or to be more precise, a group of landlords.
According to this thinking, even if the Chuanchuan Group occupies Fenghuang, Tianya, Nanshan, or even all the land outside Yazhou City, it is not a sin. As long as it pays taxes as usual and recognizes the authority of the government, it is enough.
Of course, Chuanchuan Group currently has no plans to develop Phoenix Town. Even if it wants to expand its territory westward, it will definitely give priority to developing the urban area of Sanya in the future and connecting the two river basins - Sanya Port - Victory Port. Otherwise, just skip Yazhou and go to the west coast to develop Yinggehai and Shilu. In any case, the towns under Yazhou’s jurisdiction are unlikely to be priority development targets for the Chuanchuan Group.
Seeing that Tao Donglai was deep in thought, Luo Shengdong thought that he had persuaded him, so he quickly continued to persuade: "If you are interested, I can handle the land deed in Yazhou on your behalf."
Tao Dong came back to his senses and asked with a smile: "We occupy that place, what benefits can you get?"
Luo Shengdong had dealt with the Haihan people a lot, and he knew that these guys were extremely smart and could not be concealed, so he did not intend to hide anything and directly told Tao Donglai: "The area under the jurisdiction of Phoenix Town" I only need to leave two thousand acres of land to the Yazhou adults. As for me...as long as this matter is completed, the adults will jointly recommend me to the title of Thousand Presidents."
Tao Donglai was really shocked. The Yazhou government planned to sell the land in Fenghuang Town to Chuanchuan Group? This is not just local government colluding with real estate developers to resell land. Unexpectedly, officials hundreds of years ago had already learned to play this trick!
Luo Shengdong continued to explain in a low voice: "... Lord Zhizhou and Lord Tongzhi of Yazhou, Lord Qian of the Wei Institute, and Lord He Shenjiang of my water village will all be returning to their homes next year. Most of Phoenix Town is an ownerless land..."
Although Tao Donglai heard what Luo Shengdong said later, he didn't take it seriously. In fact, based on the limited information at the beginning, Tao Donglai had already guessed the general details of the matter.
(End of chapter)