Chapter 528 Postwar Pressure
Compared with an infantry regiment dispersedly deployed in the Qiongbei area, although the navy's mixed fleet currently performing blockade tasks in the Qiongzhou Strait is not as strong as the army, its daily military expenditure is much higher than that of the army. The daily consumption of the two flagships alone is equivalent to more than two-thirds of the army. For Yan Chujie, who is sitting in Fucheng and commanding the overall situation, this is by no means just a matter of signing.
"Here comes someone!" Yan Chujie ordered: "Go and find Xu Yiren from the logistics department."
The orderly followed the order and soon returned to Yan Chujie's office with a man. This man was wearing a camouflage uniform, not the gray cloth uniform of the current militia army. Only the more senior militia troops knew that this fancy Haihan-style military uniform was the equipment that only the first batch of enlisted militia troops were lucky enough to have. Almost all of these people who are still serving in the militia have been promoted to company and platoon-level officers.
Xu Yiren is one of these "veterans" - although his military service is only three years now, he is already the oldest naturalized militiaman in the Haihan Militia. He was also one of the few top students who could read and count among the first batch of people to join the army. After joining the army, he was directly recruited by the company headquarters to do clerical work. During the Battle of Hue last year, Xu Yiren also followed the large army to Annan, and successfully completed the task of organizing logistics and transportation. After the battle, Xu Yiren was transferred to the logistics department because of his performance, and is now the warehousing director of the logistics department of the first regiment. This time the militia army occupied Qiongbei and set up military material distribution centers in Fucheng and Danzhou of Qiongzhou, and Xu Yiren was assigned to serve in Fucheng.
"Xu Yiren, how much reserve of Annan clean coal is there now?" Yan Chujie asked straight to the point.
Xu Yiren responded quickly: "The last batch of clean coal shipped from Annan was half a month ago, totaling 140,000 kilograms. After arriving locally, the navy directly loaded up half of it. But counting the days, it will be ready within three to five days." I will come back to replenish coal. There are currently less than 50,000 kilograms of coal in the warehouse. Yesterday, the regiment headquarters sent a notice that the coal ship in Annan needs to be repaired and maintained, and it will take about ten days to transport coal again. "
The main supply object of these clean coals shipped from Annan is the steam boilers on the two hybrid warships. Secondly, it is also used as the main fuel for cooking and boiling water at sea for the fleet at sea. Recently, the naval fleet has sailed very frequently in the Qiongzhou Strait, and Wang Tom has consciously wanted to train the sailors on the main ships to be familiar with the steam-powered propulsion method. Naturally, the coal consumption is not a small number. The Army's logistics department also uses coal as fuel. For cooking teams, this is much more convenient than burning firewood. Therefore, these hundreds of thousands of kilograms of coal look like a lot, but they are used very quickly. One hundred tons of coal transported from Annan at one time cannot be used for a long time.
Of course, this problem is not impossible to solve. The simplest way is to transport more. However, Annan's ships have recently been busy transporting thousands of "pirate troops" back to their base, and there is also great pressure on shipping schedules.
Yan Chujie nodded slightly and said: "Then the existing coal reserves, if consumed at the current rate, will not be able to sustain the next Annan coal shipment?"
"There will be a gap of at least 80,000 to 100,000 kilograms." Xu Yiren responded immediately.
"There is a risk of a gap in material supply. Why didn't the logistics department report it?" Yan Chujie's tone suddenly became solemn: "Coal is a strategic material. If the supply is interrupted, it will affect the army's operations. Who will bear this responsibility?"< br>
Xu Yiren trembled and quickly explained: "I know my fault for my humble position! It's just that this matter has been communicated with the Army three days ago, asking it to temporarily stop using coal and switch to dry firewood before the next coal transportation. In addition, it has also been ordered from the local Acquire lignite to ensure the supply of military coal for the Navy."
After hearing this explanation, Yan Chujie's expression softened slightly: "All the coal in stock has been temporarily sealed and given priority to the navy. I will ask someone to urge Annan to transport the coal as soon as possible. Okay. , you go back to work first.”
After sending Xu Yiren away, Yan Chujie looked at Wang Tom's application report on the table again, and couldn't help but have a wry smile on his face. Wang Tom asked for a thousand tons of coal as soon as he asked, but now there are only dozens of tons of inventory in the warehouse, which cannot meet the needs of the navy at all. Yan Chujie raised his pen and crossed out the line about coal burning in the report, and then wrote "Insufficient supply, handle as appropriate."
Then Yan Chujie drafted another telegram, asking the communications department to contact the base camp and arrange for a cargo ship to transport a batch of coal from Victory Port. Although there are some small coal mines in the Qiongbei region, the locally produced lignite is easy to weather, has a low ignition point, has a low calorific value, and is difficult to store and transport over long distances. Therefore, the navy does not like to use this low-grade coal. On Hainan Island, only the naval material warehouse in Victory Port has a large amount of Annan clean coal reserves. Compared with Heitu Port, which can only be shipped after ten days, it is faster to transport it from Victory Port in the south. Anyway, the military reserves there are The coal is not of use for the time being, so it is better to transport it to Qiongbei for emergency purposes.
As for Wang Tom's second application, requesting to dispatch an engineering team to the selected military port area, Yan Chujie could only express his helplessness.
Although the military has begun to set up its own exclusive engineering and construction department, due to the overall lack of technical personnel, most of the professionals in this area are concentrated in the Ministry of Construction. When the military wants to carry out large-scale infrastructure projects, it can only Turn to the Ministry of Construction for help. The main technical force of the Ministry of Construction is now almost concentrated in Qiongxi, participating in the construction of the Changshilu Project.
Although the construction project of the transportation line is almost completed, the amount of work at both ends of this transportation line is also considerable. In order to put the mining base in Qiongxi into operation as soon as possible, the Executive Committee even delayed the development of several key locations in the Indochina Peninsula. . Compared with the Haikou military port project and these projects under construction, it is difficult to say which one is more important. All the military can do is to continue to make representations to the Executive Committee and apply for the deployment of manpower from the Ministry of Construction to implement the military port project. As for whether it can happen or not, that is not something Yan Chujie can decide unilaterally. For Haihan, although the strategic significance of occupying the Qiongbei area is great, the price to be paid after that is also considerable. Although Haihan gained a large area of control and a population of hundreds of thousands from it, these resources could not be converted into profits immediately. It would take at least a year and a half before they would gradually pay off. However, the expenditure of funds and material consumption during this period will not be suspended for a day. The thousands of personnel sent by Haihan to the newly occupied areas have to spend money every day for food, clothing, housing and transportation, not to mention other tasks such as road construction and port construction. A large number of infrastructure projects such as building bridges and building bridges will be implemented in Qiongbei. A considerable part of the wealth Haihan accumulated in the past three years through various business activities has been spent in Qiongbei in the recent period.
Moreover, the impact of this investment is not limited to Hainan Island, Annan and Guangdong are also affected by this. A large number of people and materials need to be mobilized back and forth during this period, and such occupation of maritime transport capacity will inevitably affect normal commercial activities. For example, in order to transfer thousands of people between Annan and Hainan Island, Annan had to suspend all commercial shipping and devote all its transportation capacity to the transportation of people and materials. The coal supply shortage in Qiongbei is just one example. The industrial zone in Qiongnan has also been affected to a considerable extent. Charcoal workshops that have reduced production year by year have restarted operations at full capacity to offset part of the impact caused by insufficient coal supply. negative impact.
Faced with such a huge investment, the Executive Committee is of course also considering other solutions - such as the fundraising development model that has been used many times and has fully proven its usability.
On November 20, "Qiong Lianfa" held the "Chongzhen Three-Year Shareholders' Meeting" at Haihan New Port at the southern end of Hong Kong Island. All shareholders, large and small, sent representatives to participate even if they could not be present in person.
The reason why this meeting was held in Hong Kong Island instead of Sanya as in previous years is because recently the Sanya area, or to be precise, the entire port of Qiongzhou Island, has been temporarily closed to mainland ships, and non-Haihan Shipping Department Ships belonging to the Hainan Island and the Navy are only allowed to enter but not to leave, in order to prevent the true situation of Hainan Island from being leaked prematurely. Considering that most of the shareholders of "Qiong Lianfa" settled in the mainland, the Haihan Ministry of Commerce moved this shareholder meeting to Xingang at the Pearl River Estuary.
Exactly one year has passed since the Hong Kong project was launched in October last year. The small island on the southwest side of the harbor, which was originally named Ap Lei Chau in time and space, has now been named "Zhennan Island" by the Xingang Port Management Committee, and the port is naturally called "Zhennan Port". Conspicuous gray concrete forts have been built on the island. There are fifteen long-barreled and large-caliber coastal defense guns on the north and south sides, aiming at the channel entrance to and from the harbor, guarding this emerging seaport town.
Due to the needs of the war on Hainan Island, most of the Guangdong fleet originally stationed here has moved south, leaving only two "Exploration-class" warships stationed here. However, the navy from the north will no longer cruise here, so There are no external threats to speak of. Zhennan Port also has a company of artillery and infantry stationed here, as well as a security police team of 50 people. For such a small port with a permanent population of less than 2,000, the defense force is already very impressive. .
Zhennan Port is surrounded by mountains, and the flat land area is relatively limited, and it was basically divided up by various companies recruited by Haihan during the development period. Therefore, the harbor town is almost entirely filled with business stores and warehouses one after another. A small number of local residents have either moved to the sailor residential area on Zhennan Island or moved to nearby hillsides. A residential area built under the unified command of the Haihan people.
Compared with Wanshan Port, which is narrow in area, Zhennan Port, which can accommodate more ships to dock, is obviously more valued by maritime merchants. In particular, maritime merchants traveling between Guangdong and Fujian provinces are happy to use this place as a supply point and cargo transfer station on the route.
Maritime merchants from Zhaoqing, Guangzhou, and Huizhou in the Pearl River Basin are now accustomed to coming to Wanshan Port to purchase goods shipped from Fujian. Fujian maritime merchants were also very happy to transport their goods here for trading and avoid the taxes levied by the court. Therefore, although it was not built for a long time, its prosperity is no less than that of some famous ports in the southeastern coastal areas.
Moreover, the merchants who come and go here know very well that although this island is nominally the territory of the Ming Dynasty, the people of Haihan have the final say in Nangang. When doing business on the territory of the Haihan people, firstly, you don’t have to worry about forced buying and selling, and secondly, you don’t have to worry about all kinds of fraud and the like. Thirdly, if there is a problem with the turnover, the Haihan people are very happy to take advantage of it. The money comes out to help. Based on these reasons, the maritime merchants who came here no longer care whether the port actually belongs to Haihan or Ming Dynasty. Even if it is really occupied by Haihan, there doesn't seem to be anything bad about it. At least they will make a profit. The money in my pocket has really increased.
In the two or three days before the meeting, shareholders and business representatives from all over Guangdong arrived in Zhennang Port one after another. Although Haihan's temporary rescheduling notice is a bit hasty, shareholders who have in-depth cooperation with Haihan know very well that in addition to reporting on the operation status of the project, every shareholders' meeting also has a very important content: dividends. A year has passed since the start of the Zhennan Port project, and it has been officially operational for almost half a year. Haihan chose this time to hold the shareholders' meeting, most likely because this place already has stable income.
Of course, according to the Haihan people's style of doing things, there is another possibility besides dividends, which is the "surprise announcement" they usually make at shareholder meetings.
The so-called surprise announcement means that Haihan people announce some new business projects at the annual shareholders' meeting, and these projects often exceed the imagination of shareholders and have excellent investment prospects. According to Haihan's Commerce Minister Schneider, this is a surprise and benefit that Haihan has prepared for its partners. As long as you become Haihan's business partner, you don't need to worry about the future of your business. This has also become a widely circulated topic in the maritime business circle. Every year before the shareholders' meeting, big businessmen in Fuzhou and Guangzhou will secretly guess what new projects the Haihan people will come up with. Conduct investment promotion. There will even be some good guys who offer bonuses to induce people to place bets on the outcome.
After the shareholders arrived at Zhennang Port, people who knew each other would naturally visit each other, and they would also talk about the "surprise announcement" that was likely to occur at the shareholders' meeting. All kinds of speculations were endless.
(End of chapter)