Chapter 444 Taking the initiative to urge
The Ming Dynasty in this era is like a big ship that is about to capsize. The bottom of the ship is leaking everywhere. The external environment is constantly stormy and the people on the ship are fighting among themselves. There is no chance to repair the ship. However, for the time-travel group that has just entered its third year in this era and whose foundation is not yet too solid, the Ming Empire is still a behemoth that cannot be resisted for the time being, and in the minds of the vast majority of time-travelers, they do not want to let The Ming Dynasty fell too quickly. After all, the Ming Dynasty was still orthodox among the Han people, while the wild boar skins outside the pass were completely barbarians. Therefore, Haihan's basic position is still on the side of the Ming Dynasty. If the empire, which is about to come to an end, can be helped to continue its life through military assistance, the vast majority of people will definitely vote in favor - of course, no matter what form it is. Assistance will certainly not be provided free of charge.
Regarding the issue of how to extend the life of the Ming Dynasty, in fact, discussions had begun within the preparatory committee at that time long before time travel. The more common view is that the problem faced by the Ming Dynasty is not just the weakness of military strength, but the entire society. All kinds of social conflicts caused by the backwardness of the system broke out during this period. Unilateral military assistance could not change the reality that the Ming Empire was declining. However, reasonable assistance methods may be able to help Ming withstand attacks from outside the Northeast Pass, allowing the Crossing Group to have more time to make full use of the market and various resources under Ming's rule to strengthen its own strength.
To cooperate with the Ming Dynasty in the military field, all aspects involved are extremely complex, and there are many issues that need to be considered. Fortunately, there is already some cooperation with the Guangdong government and the Fujian Navy that has not been fully disclosed. The relevant departments have accumulated a certain amount of experience and will not have to look for solutions when the problem comes.
"I'm going too far off topic. You should listen to me finish talking about the expansion of military recruitment first!" Yan Chujie saw that the topic of discussion had strayed far away from the original point, and quickly drew everyone's attention back to his own proposal. Above: "I believe that everyone has already understood the necessity and feasibility of troop expansion through my introduction. Now I will talk about the recruitment plan."
The benefits of the Haihan Militia have always been good. After joining the army, they directly obtain naturalized citizenship and enjoy the salary standards of second-level workers. Moreover, due to the frequent expansion of the army, there are actually quite a lot of opportunities for promotion at the bottom of the militia. Now the militia is the middle shift platoon leader. The grassroots officers at the same level have all been replaced by naturalized civilian militiamen who joined the army early and performed well. Individual personnel with outstanding performance will have further opportunities for promotion, and this rate of increase is faster than that of other armies of the same era. It is difficult to appear in .
In addition, militia soldiers who retire from the army and change jobs, or who are injured or killed in battle, will receive very thoughtful arrangements and care, as well as generous remuneration or pensions. If they are unwilling to accept the work arrangements of the civil affairs department after retirement, they can also be assigned At least 30 acres of low-rent farmland, and you can go home and farm on your own. To put it harshly, for ordinary people, serving as a soldier in the Haihan Militia and working for the Executive Committee is still very cost-effective.
It is precisely because of these preferential treatment, coupled with the fact that the Shanghai Han militia has never been defeated in the battles and the results are brilliant, the enthusiasm of young people in the area under Haihan's rule to join the army has always been very high. Every time the military recruits foreign troops, it can almost recruit the required soldiers in a very short period of time, and the number of applicants often greatly exceeds the original recruitment plan. Therefore, for Yan Chujie, there is no need to worry about the supply of soldiers when opening the next phase of conscription. Although the planned conscription quota may exceed 1,000 people, judging from the current population size under Haihan rule, there will probably be an overflow of applicants. scene.
"There is a small adjustment in the recruitment plan. I hope you will pay attention to it." Yan Chujie introduced: "Due to the progress of the Shilu project, a group of Lidong and Miao villages will gradually move out of the Shilu area in the past six months. These villages There are a large number of young people of the right age in the army, which are a good source of soldiers. Therefore, we plan to focus the recruitment area on Shilu and recruit local indigenous young people to join the army. This can also play a certain role in promoting local social stability. .”
It is nothing new for Li and Miao youths to join the army in the Haihan militia. Although the Li and Miao ethnic groups had a relatively deep antagonism in the past, the Li and Miao militiamen quickly eliminated the barriers in the melting pot of the army and became partners who fought side by side and shared life and death. . The comradeship relationship established in the army has gradually affected the outside world. The frequency of fights and even armed conflicts between the two races that were common in the past years has also dropped rapidly, and relations have gradually normalized.
It’s no wonder that Haihan gave great support to the Li and Miao villages that were willing to cooperate, allowing them to obtain better economic benefits and living security through labor, and canceled many of the discriminatory regulations promulgated by the Ming Dynasty, and imposed restrictions on the Li and Miao people. All families are treated equally. After being able to have enough food, clothing, and basic dignity, the Li and Miao people no longer have to fight for living space and production resources. Most of the young and aggressive young people joined the militia as soldiers, and peace came naturally. .
However, in previous conscriptions, in order to ensure the interests of the Han people who make up the majority of the population, the military generally recruited Han soldiers. The proportion of militiamen from the Li and Miao ethnic groups in the militia is currently only maintained at close to 30%. In this military expansion plan, the military hopes to recruit more young people from the Li and Miao ethnic groups to join the army, and hopes to use this to alleviate the pressure faced by the Shilu project in terms of resettlement.
No one raised any objections to the military's arrangement, and the Ministry of Civil Affairs even expressed their appreciative attitude. Ning Qi continued: "That's fine. There are two to three thousand people from the Limiao Mountains who need to be relocated for the Shilu project, half of whom are young people. If your army takes away those young people, it will be easier for us to arrange immigration. ”
Due to the military's thorough preparation in advance, this military expansion bill was passed without much difficulty at the executive meeting. However, the plan to provide military assistance to the Ming Dynasty derived from the military expansion bill did not reach a clear conclusion at the meeting because it involved too many departments and required preparations. It will need to be carried out at another time. Just research.
After entering July, good news finally came from the Indochina Peninsula across the sea. After three months of continuous fighting, the North Vietnamese troops finally basically wiped out the main force of the remaining resistance forces in South Vietnam, and from Hue The coastal areas south to Nha Trang were also cleared, and a large number of states and counties changed their flags and were re-incorporated under the rule of the Thang Long court. Among the four southern ports proposed by the Hai Han side before the war, Da Nang and Quy Nhon Port have returned to the control of the northern court and can already enter the development stage.
This news is both painful and happy for the Executive Committee. The happy thing is that these long-coveted coastal areas can finally be brought under its own rule, but the painful thing is that Haihan currently does not have enough resources to use. in the construction of large-scale overseas engineering projects. At present, almost all the technical personnel and main construction teams of the Ministry of Construction are concentrated on the road construction site from Changhua to Shilu. The first phase of this road project will last at least until the end of the year. Only then will it be possible to send some personnel to Annan. Bian presided over the port construction work. Although everyone is excited about the addition of two new overseas territories, the Shilu project is the top priority at this stage and cannot be lost. The Annan port can only be ranked lower in priority. However, the executive committee is not anxious, but others are starting to become anxious. In order to develop Da Nang and Quy Nhon Port, Annan State also sent a special envoy to Sanya to discuss the possibility of cooperative development with the Executive Committee.
The special envoy sent was not an outsider. He was the refugee Zheng Lin who was rescued by the fleet originally sent to Black Tu Port on the Thanh Hoa coast. Because this person was related to the powerful North Vietnamese official Zheng Lin, the Executive Committee was asked to follow The North Vietnamese court established a relationship, and there was later all-round cooperation in politics, military, and economy. After Zheng Lin returned to Thang Long Province, because he had lived in Black Tu Port for a period of time and had a better understanding of the Hai Han people, he was appointed as a special envoy to handle Hai Han related affairs. After the Thang Long Palace court recognized Hai Han's actual control over the Black To Port in the name of a concession, Zheng Lin was appointed as an observer and lived in the Black To Port for another year.
Of course, the treatment Zheng Lin enjoyed during this period was fundamentally different from when he fled. Basically, the standards of food and accommodation were the same as those of travelers, and this living standard has exceeded his treatment in Shenglong Mansion. . When Shenglong Palace transferred him back to appoint a new position, Zheng Lin was actually quite reluctant to leave Black Earth Port.
The new task assigned by the Annan court to Zheng Lin this year is to discuss the cooperative development plan for the four southern ports with Haihan. The reason why the Annan court was so actively involved was mainly because the economic benefits generated by the three northern ports developed by Haihan made Annan's rulers see the convenience and potential of maritime trade. The originally most prosperous coastal trading ports in the south, Dong Hoi, Hue, and Hoi An, have all been destroyed by war. A large number of Ming merchants chose to leave Annan and return to Ming Dynasty or settle in Sanya. The Portuguese also temporarily Without the ability to independently build large ports on the southern coast, maritime trade in the southern region almost came to a standstill. This made the Annan court, which had high hopes for southern maritime trade, very dissatisfied.
The Annan rulers originally planned to let the Haihan people take the responsibility for building the new port. Although this would put the ownership of the land under the control of the Haihan people indefinitely, it would at least have a chance to save Annan's financial situation and make the already empty The wild treasury can be replenished. However, the Haihan people did not know what medicine they had taken. In the past, they would quickly start building the port after reaching an agreement. For fear that Annan would regret it, Tushan Port even obtained the concession rights through negotiation while building. But this time, a few months after the Battle of Hue, there was no further movement from Hai Han. The coastal area they claimed before the war was still deserted, with no signs of construction starting. This left Annan in power. The reader was a little unable to sit still.
Although the Haihan people occupied the three ports of Heitu, Tushan and Yong'an in the northern coastal area in the name of concession, the Annan court still obtained a lot of profits from the import and export trade of these ports - of course a considerable amount. Part of it went directly into the pockets of the powerful people who monopolized trade. Although the trade between Haihan and Annan is almost entirely an example of the trade scissors gap between industrial countries and agricultural countries, for the Annan court, which was so poor that it was about to pawn its pants, the maritime trade brought by these ports still brought certain benefits. , giving Annan the opportunity to exchange the less valuable local commodities such as rice, wood, medicinal materials, ivory and so on for better returns.
After the fall of the Hue regime, the Annan court would certainly not be satisfied with import and export trade limited to only three ports. The thousands of miles of mountains and rivers in the south also had a lot of good things that could be sold to the Haihan people, provided that there were large commercial ports in the area. However, after waiting and waiting, the Haihan people who got the land to build the port have not started construction. Seeing that waiting like this is not a waste of time, the Annan court finally decided to send an envoy to Sanya to explain the matter clearly.
Zheng Lin didn't have many old acquaintances in the Sanya area, and Wang Tom was one of them. Wang Tom was the commander of the special fleet that rescued Zheng Lin. Therefore, the Executive Committee also included Wang Tom among the reception staff this time. After Zheng Lin saw Wang Tom, he showed no pretense as an Annan official. He still called him a benefactor and thanked him repeatedly for his life-saving grace. Wang Tom declined for a while before Zheng Lin changed his mind and addressed himself as brother Wang.
In addition to Wang Tom, Schneider was also responsible for receiving the Annan envoy. It was precisely with a calculating old fox like Schneider on the scene that Tom Wang was willing to reluctantly accept this task that should have been handled by the diplomatic department.
After three rounds of wine and five dishes at the reception banquet, Zheng Lin took the initiative to bring up the business: "Among the many agreements reached between you and our country last year, one of them mentioned assisting our country in rebuilding the southern commercial port after the war and reopening the sea. Regarding the terms of the trade, now that the war in the south has been basically settled, I don’t know when you are going to start implementing these terms of the agreement.”
Schneider responded: "Special Envoy Zheng, let me correct you on a mistake. This is not that we are assisting your country in building a port, but that your country has provided these coastal areas to us as a concession in the form of military collateral. As for when to start building the port, there was no clear timetable negotiated at that time. These contents were all documented and documented at the time. Special Envoy Zheng should not just open his mouth.”
(End of chapter)