Chapter 592 The Situation in Fujian
Although Ning Qi was quickly determined to be the leader of the mission, the work of establishing the mission was not something he could complete alone. For security reasons, the military will still be the main force in this mission, and the ships and personnel dispatched will mainly belong to the military. In addition, considering whether there is such an opportunity for a large-scale mission to Fujian, the Executive Committee also hopes to take this opportunity to complete more project inspections. Therefore, the commerce, immigration, mining and security intelligence agencies must also free up manpower to join in. . In addition, the logistics, medical, shipping and other departments responsible for support must also make corresponding arrangements. Although it is just a mission and not an expeditionary force, it also affects the whole body. There are too many departments to coordinate and too much preparation work to do.
As for the fleet sent to Fujian as an envoy, the military quickly decided on the lineup. At present, the situation in the Qiongzhou Strait has calmed down. The "Weixiao" hybrid warship stationed near Qiongzhou Fucheng will serve as the flagship of the mission, and two more "Exploration-class" warships will be dispatched as frigates. The Victory Port Naval Base will dispatch four additional warships to the Qiongzhou Strait to take over local maritime defense.
Although this lineup is far from comparable to the task force that went south to fight in the Ambrosia Islands, it is already considered to be over the top as an envoy fleet. In addition to the three warships, two supply ships will also set off from the Qiongzhou Strait with the warship. Sanya will dispatch the "Lightning" catamaran and an "Expedition-class" sailboat to carry the members of the mission.
Although the military only dispatched three combat ships, its emphasis was no less than launching an expeditionary campaign. In addition to using the "power signal" as a big killer, the deployment of personnel is also generous.
Roger and Shi Diwen, former members of the North American Gang who just announced their job reassignments at last month's annual meeting, will represent the navy in the operation this time. However, Roger's mission is to go to the Qiongbei Strait to take over local defense, while Shi Diwen will As the captain of the "Wei Signal", he will visit Fujian with the mission. Also accompanying them is their old partner Dr. Morgan, who will serve as the mission's medical advisor. Of course, when necessary, he can also use his second professional sniper to provide powerful firepower output for possible armed actions.
After Wang Tom and Qiao Zhiya became official one after another, several other members of the North American Gang also started to have thoughts. The original intention of several of them to participate in the time-travel operation was to seek excitement. After arriving here, apart from several large-scale military operations, they seemed to spend more time continuing to engage in the work they had done before the time-travel operation, and the quality of their lives was also compromised. It's not as good as traveling through the time and space before, and this is obviously not the life state they want.
So after Qiao Zhiya, Roger and Shi Diwen, who were workshop directors in Tiandu Industrial Zone, also submitted transfer applications to the executive committee, hoping to be transferred from the production department to the external affairs department. For example, they already had part-time jobs. Military or maritime sector.
Because of Wang Tom's relationship, the military naturally knew their movements in advance, and at this time also cooperated with the Executive Committee to name people - the Navy's recent military expansion plan just needs a large number of professional command talents, such as those from the North American Gang A guy who knew both military and navigation skills immediately became a favorite. The most important thing is that Roger and Shi Diwen were both senior mechanics in the mechanical field and were personally involved in the R&D and manufacturing of marine steam engines. They joined the navy to command hybrid warships, taking care of everything from command operations to technical support. Come down, it is simply the most suitable candidate.
Taking into account my wishes and the military's arguments, the Executive Committee finally approved the personnel transfer and transferred these two people from their posts in the Ministry of Industry and resumed their military duties. The only one who is dissatisfied with this is probably Bai Kesi. After these two people are transferred, he will have to find two more people to fill the vacancies. In the traversal group where talent is in short supply, there is still a certain gap between the strength of the substitutes and the main players. , Their transfer will inevitably affect the technical strength reserves of the industrial sector.
Although Roger does not have a hybrid warship to command in this mission assignment, it is basically determined that he will be the captain of the third "Majesty-class" warship scheduled by the military. This means that in the near future, there will also be a naval fleet with hybrid warships as the core flagship for him to command and fight.
In addition to them, the military has actually coveted the two remaining doctors from the North American Gang for a long time. Unfortunately, there are too few professional Western medicine doctors in the time-traveling group. In addition to providing medical protection for hundreds of time-travelers, they also have to Continuously train new people and expand the medical team under Haihan, and this goal is obviously not something that can be achieved in a short time. Even though the military has been trying to transfer them to serve as full-time military doctors, it still cannot get approval from the Executive Committee.
Moreover, Johnson, who has a family and a family, does not plan to fight everywhere like several others. He just wants to settle down in Sanya and raise his two daughters safely. On the other hand, old Morgan, who has been single to this day, can't sit still. Whenever there is a military operation, he will go to the Military Commission to inquire about the news. Whenever there is a chance, he wants to go to sea with the militia. This time, his wish was fulfilled, and he finally had an opportunity to travel far away.
Relevant departments spent a week making corresponding preparations. On May 16, this improvised mission fleet set off from Victory Port, while the warship fleet departing from Qiongbei Strait will arrive at Hainan Island. Meet it near Beishi Island in the northeast corner.
At noon the next day, the two teams successfully met at a predetermined location on the sea, and then headed towards the Pearl River Estuary. Before this fleet goes to Fujian, it will also conduct a material replenishment at Nangang, Hong Kong Island Town, to ensure that it does not have to find another supply point to stop during the hundreds of miles of voyage.
While Sanya was holding a meeting to confirm the mission's visit, Guangzhou was not idle either. After receiving the decision from the Executive Committee, the General Office of the People's Republic of China also took action. On the one hand, it must immediately notify Xu Xinsu's people and ask him to send the news back to Zhangzhou as soon as possible. On the other hand, it must also hire some local sailors who are familiar with the sea conditions in Fujian. , providing on-board navigation for the upcoming fleet.
On May 20, the mission fleet arrived at Zhennan Port. This fleet of seven ships did not dock at the commercial port, but at the military port on Ap Lei Chau Island. Malike from the Guangdong Office came over from Guangzhou and had a brief meeting with Ning Qi and others.
Last time, Xu Xinsu made a special trip to Guangzhou in order to purchase weapons and warships. The person who received him in Guangzhou at that time was Maliko, who was also one of the few travelers who had direct face-to-face contact with Xu Xinsu. Therefore, before the mission went to Fujian, they specially arranged this meeting, and Maliko provided some first-hand information to Ning Qi and others.
"Xu Xinsu is a very realistic person. If he had been in our time, he would have had the opportunity to become a successful businessman." Maliko introduced to Ning Qi: "For him, the benefits within reach are better than those that cannot be achieved in a short time." Fulfilled promises are more important. No matter how much we promise him, they are nothing compared to the money piled in front of him.”
"You mean, in order to reach the armistice conditions, the Dutch should have offered him a good price?" Ning Qi asked. Maliko nodded and said: "From the information we have inquired through some channels these days, the Dutch should have agreed to give Xu Xinsu more preferential conditions on the Japan and Ryukyu routes."
"Do you know the specific content?" Ning Qi asked.
Maliko shook his head helplessly and said: "I'm sorry, our people are not that powerful yet. But I guess these so-called preferential conditions should also be related to Shiba Zhi, otherwise there would be no need for Baizhi to come forward for this armistice agreement. Come and talk.”
"Probably to make Shibazhi stop the harassment war on these important waterways!" Ning Qi nodded to express his understanding.
Based on the location of Shibazhi, it is indeed more convenient to intercept and kill merchant ships departing from Zhangzhou and Quanzhou towards Ryukyu Japan. Xu Xinsu's maritime armed forces are not strong enough to provide full armed escort for these routes, so Shibazhi's attitude will directly affect Xu Xinsu's profits in this trade direction. The Dutch took this as one of the conditions for negotiation, and they had a relatively accurate grasp of Xu Xinsu's pulse.
"Then what do you think of Xu Xinsu's political attitude?" Ning Qi continued to ask.
Malico responded: "I have only been in contact with him for two or three days. To be honest, it is difficult to see through him in such a short period of time. But I think the conflict of interest between him and Shibazhi cannot be resolved by a truce. , their existence is a natural threat to each other, just like the existence of the Dutch will threaten our future development. I think that even if an armistice agreement can be reached, it will only be temporary. The power is enough to start a war again, then the war between them will be reignited again.”
Ning Qi said: "But the problem now is that we don't know under what conditions they will reach an armistice agreement and whether it will be timely. Moreover, Xu Xinsu concealed this matter from us. The attitude he showed That is what the executive committee is most worried about. If we lose control of Xu Xinsu, it means that we have to spend twice as much energy to support another person who can replace him. Lao Yan means that we can even do it if necessary. Support Shiba Zhi, but I think this is a bit too capricious and easy to be criticized.”
"There are so many Eighteen Hilltops, so it's not easy to support them." Malik has lived in Guangzhou for a long time, and the information he got is naturally much better than that in Sanya: "There are eighteen leaders in this group of pirates. Think about who listens to whom." Even if Zheng Zhilong is the strongest, others may not be convinced by him. Especially in the past two years, Shibazhi has suffered repeated defeats on the coast of Fujian. Zheng Zhilong's prestige is not as good as before. Some key decisions have now been made by him. It may not be possible to be the master.”
"What you said is true. It is true that when there are too many people in charge, it is easy to get into chaos." Ning Qi nodded deeply and said: "There are only nine members of the Executive Committee's Standing Committee, and they are all representatives elected by everyone. There are still frequent quarrels during the Standing Committee meetings. There is a lot of quarreling, and there is no consensus. There are hundreds of bills, big and small, that are voted on every year, but few of them can be passed or rejected unanimously.”
"The Executive Committee can at least have civilized discussions. Do you think those pirates who lick blood from their swords can sit down and communicate so slowly?" Malik said sarcastically: "It is said that in history, after Zheng Zhilong accepted the recruitment, he was the first The thing is to lead the troops to kill his former sworn brothers.”
"You're right." Speaking of this period of history, Ning Qi did know better: "In the later stages of the Shibazhi period, they basically killed each other. Li Kuiqi killed Yang Tiansheng and Chen Zhongji, but he himself was also killed. Zheng Zhilong was killed. Liu Xiang, Zhong Bin, and Yang Liuyang were all killed by Zheng Zhilong. Zheng Zhilong's younger brother Zheng Zhihu was also captured by Chen Hai while fighting Liu Xiang. Bin and Guo Huaiyi simply defected to the Dutch and became their lackeys. Only Shi Daxuan, Hong Xu, and Gan Hui who later assisted Zheng Chenggong were on the right track."
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At this point, Ning Qi changed the subject and said: "But having said that, the current situation is very different from the original history. Zheng Zhilong failed to kill Xu Xinsu as scheduled, so he did not have the chance to be recruited by Fujian Governor Xiong Wencan. Under external pressure, their original internal conflicts are not so easy to break out.”
"After all, they have to unite to resist the current Xu Xinsu." Malik continued: "We have provided military support to Fujian for three years. According to what we know, Xu Xinsu now has at least 3,000 people under his command. The level of armament has reached the equipment level of the early Haihan Militia, and the combat training received is basically what they learned from the military attache study abroad class in Victory Port. Its combat effectiveness can definitely be regarded as an elite force in Fujian. Bazhi will launch large-scale attacks near Zhangzhou and Quanzhou every three months to six months, but the results in recent years have been worse than the previous year, and you also understand the reason.”
"The strong get stronger as they fight, and the weak get weaker as they fight." Ning Qi nodded to express his understanding.
The war between Xu Xinsu Group and Shibazhi is ultimately a battle for resources, including land resources, trade resources, population resources, etc. With the mainland at her back, Xu Xinsu already had a huge advantage and could be quickly replenished even if she lost. The Shibazhi is based in Penghu and Taiwan Island, with a limited population base and war resources far inferior to those on the mainland. As long as it suffers a few consecutive defeats, its strength will deflate as quickly as a deflated balloon. It's a miracle that Shibazhi can survive two or three consecutive years of defeat without disbanding.
(End of chapter)