Chapter 453 The debate about Hong Kong Island
Even if he lacks military sensitivity, Malik also knows the important role Hong Kong Island can play in Haihan's mainland strategy. The manor outside Guangzhou City, the immigration base in Lijiazhuang, Panyu, and the Wanshan Port outside the Pearl River Estuary are all under the jurisdiction of the General Office of the People's Republic of China. They all have the problem of being unable to expand their territory due to objective circumstances. This has led to the Two years after its establishment, it is still just an overseas office-level unit, far inferior to the Annan branch that has become so impressive.
If Haihan wants to expand his power in the mainland, he must eventually have a territory under his control as a springboard. If Hong Kong Island can be taken over, the Guangzhou Guangdong Office will be upgraded to a truly large-scale branch immediately. It’s not that no one has thought about this, but everyone thinks that the move to develop land on Hong Kong Island may bring about a lot of political problems, and currently Haihan doesn’t have much capital to bargain with the giant Ming Dynasty. , rather than trying this kind of uncertain plan first, it would be better to get the base area of Hainan Island in order first. This delay has been delayed until recently, when the Executive Committee began to study the establishment of arms trade relations with the Ming Dynasty, someone thought that they could try to include Hong Kong Island as one of the trading conditions.
If Yu Yao had not insisted on asking Malik and He Xi to include the conditions for opening a port on Hong Kong Island in their contacts with Ming officials, this matter would most likely have been postponed to next year without anyone mentioning it. But since He Xi's tentative actions have made very smooth progress, the Guangdong Office will naturally not let go of such a great opportunity to make meritorious deeds.
The Executive Committee received a telegram from Guangzhou on the second day of He Xi's meeting with Liu Qian. This telegram forced Tao Donglai to organize an impromptu discussion meeting within a short period of time.
"We originally only planned to talk about arms trade and military cooperation with the Ming Dynasty, but we didn't expect that the Liaison Office in Guangdong and Guangdong would also take care of the opening of Hong Kong Island as a port. And look at what they said in the message. "I mean, the Hong Kong Island matter can be handled separately from the arms trade. There is no need to add this matter to the exchange conditions for arms exports." Tao Donglai looked around at the people here and said, "Everyone, tell me, right." What are your thoughts and suggestions on this matter?”
"As the saying goes, good luck never comes in pairs. We have been blessed with good things during this period! First, Annan came to us and begged us to hurry up and start construction. Now Guangdong has easily won the right to open the port of Hong Kong Island. Unexpectedly, we The period of rapid development is coming so quickly!" Sun Changmi, who came to the meeting on behalf of the Ministry of Shipping, was the first to express his opinion. Originally, attending the Executive Committee meeting was the responsibility of Yue Zhiyun, but he was still on his way back to Sanya from Changhua, so Sun Changmi could only temporarily take over the job.
"Don't think about this too easily." Gu Kai shook his head and said: "Now the level He Xi has direct contact with is just the government office master. Can his attitude fully represent the government? Will he think of anything else in the future? The accident has happened, and we can’t draw any conclusions yet.”
"What Gu Kai said makes sense. We can remain optimistic about this matter, but we must still proceed with caution." Ning Qi took over and said: "The investigation by the Guangdong Office may not be particularly sufficient. According to historical records, the Aberdeen Typhoon Shelter That place is not a no-man’s land at this time.”
"Oh? Then tell everyone." Tao Donglai thought of something very keenly, but he decided to listen to Ning Qi's version of the matter first.
"Hong Kong Island is under the jurisdiction of Xin'an County, Guangzhou Prefecture. Most of the inhabited areas on the island are indeed concentrated on the north shore, including the garrison of the Ming Dynasty Navy. This is consistent with historical records." Ning Qi paused and continued: "However, in the Aberdeen area in the south of the island, many sea ships sailed through here to various places in Southeast Asia at the end of the Ming Dynasty. If the historical records are correct, this place should now be a place similar to Wanshan Port, a cargo transshipment point, may have a limited population and port size, but it will certainly not be a no-man’s land.”
"So this matter..." Gu Kai only said half of his words and stopped talking because he noticed that Yan Chujie, who was sitting opposite, was staring at him coldly. Although Gu Kai was not afraid of the other party, he did immediately realize that some words were not suitable to be said in such a public place, so he stopped talking immediately.
It is said that the master of the Guangzhou government office is a foreigner. He has not been in Guangzhou for a long time and has never been to Hong Kong Island. It is not surprising that he does not know the specific situation on Hong Kong Island. However, the military team of the General Office of the People's Republic of China in Guangdong Province has been to Hong Kong Island for on-site inspections. Logically speaking, there should not be such unreasonable omissions.
If there were indeed omissions in their previous research work and they did not understand the actual local situation at all, then this situation can be attributed to dereliction of duty. But if they knew the local conditions, but reported to their superiors that the place was no man's land, and forced the plan to proceed, then the matter would be a bit complicated.
Of course, this may just be the bold act of the military team of the General Office of the People's Republic of China, but no one can rule out whether this is the intention of the military's top brass - in order to expand its territory as quickly as possible and occupy key areas, the military does not hesitate to use some slightly cross-border methods. , which makes sense logically.
But this was just a guess after all. Gu Kai knew that if he revealed this possibility in public, the military would not look good. Although Gu Kai has never been very friendly with the military, he doesn't want to offend the military too much. After all, although everyone has different political views, their goals are still the same, so there is no need to make things too ugly.
"...What do your military think?" Gu Kai thought for a moment and handed the ball to Yan Chujie. After all, the person directly responsible for this matter was someone from the military. Gu Kai decided to see the military's attitude before making any plans.
Yan Chujie said solemnly: "I think everyone needs to clarify the key point of this matter. What is the reason why we have not developed Hong Kong Island? In the early stage, it was due to lack of ability, because we lacked a springboard to reach Hong Kong Island. But Later, we had Wanshan Port, but we still didn't attack Hong Kong Island. Why? Is it because we were worried that it would trigger a diplomatic conflict with Ming Dynasty, which would affect the stability of the mainland market? What about diplomatic conflicts or political disputes? In the final analysis, we just lack a reason to be recognized by the Ming Dynasty government to develop and operate Hong Kong Island.”
Yan Chujie paused for a moment. Seeing that no one spoke to refute him, he continued: "Then the point is coming. What is the biggest problem at this stage in our development of Hong Kong Island? Is it construction technology? No! Is there anyone on the island? Live? No! The biggest question is whether we have a development permit that complies with the rules of the Ming Dynasty. Can the local government of the Ming Dynasty approve our behavior? As long as we can solve this problem, how many people are there in that area? , do you think it is still important? We are building roads and building ports in Changhua for development. There are thousands of Ming officials and civilians in Changhua County. Does it cause any hindrance to us? "
"But the situation in Changhua is a little different from that of Hong Kong Island. After all, Changhua is a vast place with few people..." When Gu Kai heard this, he felt that Yan Chujie had taken the topic astray, so he tried to refute a few words.
However, as soon as he opened his mouth, he was interrupted by Yan Chujie: "Changhua is a vast land with few people. Are there many people in Hong Kong Island? Hong Kong today is not the Hong Kong it will be four hundred years later. There are seven million people crowded into that small town." For local survival, even if the entire Xin'an County is included, there are only 70,000 people. The population of Hong Kong Island is not as large as that of Heitu Port. Most of them live in the north. Even if there is a population in the south, the population is very limited. It is across mountains and seas from the county seat of Xin'an County, and the local government has no control at all, and the official pressure he will face is much less than that in Changhua." Before Gu Kai could continue to argue, Tao Donglai stepped forward at the right time. He smoothed things over: "You don't need to argue about this issue. I think everyone's views are reasonable. Generally speaking, Hong Kong Island is a target that we must win. It's just a matter of time." In terms of details, a more detailed investigation of the situation in the Aberdeen area must be carried out. I suggest that some people from Victory Port be selected to form an inspection team and go directly to the local area to inspect the specific environmental conditions, and then report to the executive committee. A report will be submitted.”
"What should we do with the Guangdong Office?" Yan Chujie asked.
Tao Donglai responded: "We can continue with the Guangdong Office. Since we have this opportunity, why not give it a try? You just said that it is the last word to win that place reasonably and legally. Other issues can be We will solve it slowly. Not only did we eat a place with tens of thousands of people in Yazhou one bite at a time, but now we have even chewed off half of Hainan Island. How big is Hong Kong Island? We can’t chew this piece with our teeth. Bones?”
"What Lao Tao said makes sense!" Yan Chujie gave a thumbs up without hesitation, but glanced at Gu Kai from the corner of his eye, quite a bit of a demonstration.
In the end, Tao Donglai's proposal, which was slightly biased towards the military, was approved by vote. The executive committee will authorize relevant units to organize a small expedition team to Hong Kong Island within two days to conduct research on the local natural environment and people's conditions. , and then provide a comprehensive evaluation report to the Executive Committee for reference.
As for how to arrange the construction plan if this project really gets official permission from Ming Dynasty, there was no further discussion at this meeting because the Ministry of Construction is already overloaded and there is no way. I'm going to open another overseas construction site.
After the meeting, Tao Donglai came to Yan Chujie's office. There were some things I couldn't say at the meeting just now, but now we still have to communicate in private.
"Have you reported this matter to the Military Commission of the Military Team of the Garrison Office in Guangzhou?" After Tao Donglai sat down, he got to the point concisely and concisely. He also noticed the problems that Gu Kai noticed during the meeting just now. However, he himself is also a member of the Military Commission, so naturally he will not undermine his own people outside, so most of the people in the meeting just defended the Military Commission.
"Wait a minute." Yan Chujie stood up and pulled out a file from the filing cabinet against the wall and handed it to Tao Donglai: "These are various reports submitted by the military team of the General Office of the People's Republic of China in the past six months. You You can take a look.”
Although Tao Donglai holds the position of second-in-command in the Military Commission, because he holds many positions at the same time, he usually does not have much time to intervene in the internal affairs of the army one by one. Written reports submitted regularly by military agencies stationed abroad are basically handled by Yan Chujie and the Military Commission Staff Department. Only relatively major matters will be notified to Tao Donglai specifically, so he did not have this document before. Looked through it.
Tao Donglai turned to the first page, which contained a work report for January this year, and he quickly found what he was concerned about.
"On January 17, Xiao Liang escorted the supplies to Wanshan Port. The next day, he and Chen Yixin boarded a cargo ship of Daming Shipping to Hong Kong Island for inspection. The focus of the inspection was the southwest corner of Hong Kong Island and the coastal area of Aberdeen Strait. Travelers There is also a maritime businessman Huang who often passes by the local area. According to Huang, the Aberdeen area is a transit stop for Dongguan Wanxiang from the Mainland to Southeast Asia, and about twenty ships dock there every month to transship goods. "< br>
"When we arrived at Aberdeen Port that day, the local wharf was small and could only accommodate no more than five 400-ton sea-going ships docking at the same time. However, the hydrological conditions were relatively superior, and the measured water depth could accommodate large ships with a displacement of more than 1,000 tons. Local There are about 300 to 500 permanent residents, about half of whom are fishermen. According to on-the-spot information, there are no official Ming institutions there, and there are no armed personnel stationed there. The Ming Navy in the north of the island meets about every month. During an inspection of this place, a certain amount of management fees will be charged to the owners of ships that have docked here for a long time.”
"Xiao Liang and Chen Yixin conducted a two-day inspection of the local area and believed that the development level of this area is still relatively primitive and has not been directly brought under the government's control. They can consider de facto occupation of the local area in the form of building a port. ”
Tao Donglai then looked through next month's work report, and there was another paragraph mentioning Hong Kong Island. However, this time it was not an on-site inspection, but the naval troops stationed in Wanshan Port who had been in the waters near Hong Kong Island during their overseas training. He stayed for many days and made some descriptions of the local sea conditions.
Tao Donglai continued to flip through the following content and found that Hong Kong Island was mentioned in almost every month's work report in the past six months. Xiao Liang, Yu Yao, and Chen Yixin, three senior military officers stationed in Guangdong, had mentioned it more than once. The experience of setting foot on Hong Kong Island, it seems that a lot of effort has been put into this area.
(End of chapter)