Chapter 788 Year-end Summary
There is a stack of documents about four inches thick on Anxi's desk. They are all commercial project cooperation agreements signed during the investment promotion meeting. The contents are basically cash crop plantation projects. This can be regarded as the first answer sheet he handed over since taking office. Although the process was not smooth, the results seemed to be pretty good. A total of 23 cooperation agreements were signed after the three-day promotion meeting. Among them, there are five plantation projects signed by local chambers of commerce or business alliances, each with an area of more than 1,000 acres, which is an excellent example of Haihan-style large-scale planting.
Almost every cooperation project mentions the labor required for the construction project. Most businesses have chosen to prepare their own personnel. To this end, each cooperation partner will introduce more than 3,000 workers to the Kaohsiung Port area under Haihan's rule. human labor force. Considering that many people will bring their families with them during the immigration process, the actual number of immigrants introduced will definitely exceed 4,000. There is no need for Haihan to urge this process of introducing immigrants. Businessmen who are eager to build plantations and recover their investment as soon as possible will naturally rush to implement it.
After these immigrants organized by investors come to Kaohsiung Port, over time they will gradually realize the treatment gap between them and the naturalized Haihan people, and this inequality will also encourage these people whose nationality is still Ming Dynasty. Transformed into naturalized citizens. As for how effective this catalytic effect will be, just look at the current situation that more than 70% of the total population on Hainan Island has joined the Hainan citizenship.
Of course, if so many plantation projects are to be built at the same time, even if a large number of investors have directly intervened, it will take several months to start to take shape. Some cash crops must not be planted until spring. The limitations of these objective factors cannot be changed by Anxi and his people.
However, the influx of a large number of foreign residents into the local area in the short term will also be a new test for Anxi's management capabilities in civil affairs. These immigrants have not undergone isolation, screening and basic training in the Haihan immigration camp, and there will definitely be many problems in accepting management and adapting to the local social environment. Fortunately, Anxi led a group of Ming people who had not yet been naturalized to work in the Salt Farm Commune during the opening of Shengli Port. In the process, he accumulated relatively rich grassroots work experience. It was not difficult for him to deal with Ming people. This is probably This can be regarded as one of the reasons why the Executive Committee chose him to manage Kaohsiung Port.
Since the Kaohsiung Port has just opened its stalls, everyone needs to make decisions on countless things. Anxi also had to give up his plan to return to Victory Port at the end of the year to attend the year-end summary meeting. Fortunately, all the resources needed by Kaohsiung Port have basically been obtained, and there is no need for him, the local chief executive, to rush back and slap the table and bench in front of the executive committee to beg for resources.
Haihan still adheres to the system of two meetings a year. The first is the general meeting held at the anniversary celebration in early April every year. Of course, due to the restrictions of traffic conditions after the expansion of the territory, it is basically impossible for all members to attend the meeting together. The main content of this meeting is personnel transfers and various awards. For example, the military's various military merit awards are almost always held after the annual Victory Harbor Parade to promote force and unite the people.
In addition, the Executive Committee will also publicly commend some naturalized cadres who have performed outstandingly and made special contributions. For example, Zhang Tiangui, a shipwright who defected to Haihan in the early days, was awarded the "Shengli Port Shipyard" at this year's anniversary meeting. "Lifelong Honorary Consultant", and was promoted to the seventh-level laborer ahead of his old rival Yu Dashan. He was also the first naturalized cadre promoted to this level in the Haihan labor system. Of course, this generous reward is partly because Zhang Tiangui’s sixtieth birthday will be after the anniversary meeting. The executive committee took this opportunity to take into account his outstanding performance in leading the whole family to serve Haihan in recent years. A special commendation was given to him.
This meeting also has an important function, which is to take advantage of this relatively concentrated opportunity for time-travelers to collectively vote on major matters - such as the lineup of the executive committee that is regularly re-elected. During the meeting, politicians are most active, and they must find ways to obtain more benefits for themselves and the groups they represent. Even technical officials who are not so keen on politics will take this opportunity to promote their projects and win more support for their departments.
Another important meeting is the summary meeting at the end of the year. It is said to be a work summary, but in addition to summarizing the achievements in various fields this year, there are also a large number of new projects and plans that need to be collectively reviewed and voted on at the meeting. Especially when it comes to limited funding and resource investment in the coming year, various departments will be in a state of contention.
The production units hope that the executive committee can increase investment and expand production capacity to create more wealth. However, expendable units such as the military also require a large amount of investment to maintain operations and maintain the same expansion rate as the Haihan Ruled Area. In addition, units that provide basic livelihood protection, such as education, health, commerce and other fields, also require very large investments. As for how many requests put forward by each unit will ultimately be approved by the executive committee, it depends on the achievements and gains in the previous year on the one hand, and the skills of the heads of each department and unit in soliciting attention by showing off their hardships. .
For each department, the year-end summary meeting is more like an annual exam, and the test results will directly affect the various resources that the department can obtain in the next year. Except for areas like Kaohsiung Port that have already determined their investment plans in the future, other overseas colonies will basically have the person in charge or send representatives back to Sanya to attend the meeting, at least to ensure that the number of resource allocations they deserve will not be due to It was reduced without any reason for some inexplicable reason.
In previous years, the year-end summary meeting was not scheduled to be held in the actual days at the end of the year, because the transmission and implementation of various government orders also take a certain amount of time. If the schedule is too stuck, it is easy for the "year-end summary" to become a "year-end summary" ”, that’s a bit inconsistent with the name. Generally speaking, it will be scheduled in mid-to-late November or early December to allow sufficient time for the communication and implementation of various resolutions made by the conference. However, this year, because the military did not attack the Kaohsiung area until November, all corresponding meeting arrangements had to be postponed. As a result, the year-end meeting was not scheduled until December, which was also the latest year-end meeting since time travel.
Compared with the anniversary meeting held in April, the summary meeting at the end of the year was not much grand. There was no public publicity and celebration activities, and the number of participants was much smaller. They were basically the heads of various departments and colonial areas. If an anniversary is like the sound of firecrackers and gongs and drums, then the year-end meeting is a scene where a group of people discuss things in secret behind closed doors. In addition to the tight security measures adopted by the entire Victory Port during the meeting, ordinary people would not even realize that their parents and officials were meeting to discuss the development direction of this group in the next year. However, this low-key will not affect the enthusiasm of the discussion in the meeting. Although almost all the time-travelers behave like pure aristocrats from eighteen generations of ancestry outside, behind closed doors, when it is time to slap the table, they will not. People will be reserved.
The focus of debate at today's meeting is still the same old routine, centered on the relationship between the military and the civilian system. For the military, 1632 was a year with little investment and big gains. During this year, the military only launched one war. In May, it joined forces with the Fujian Ming Army to launch a large-scale offensive against Penghu, which went relatively smoothly. The ground captured Shibazhi's last large stronghold in the Fujian Strait, and also helped Haihan gain his first real foothold in the area - before that, the troops stationed in Fujian had been temporarily hosted. Among the Ming Army's garrison in Fujian.
Only half a year later, the military took action again, enclosing Kaohsiung Port in the southern part of Taiwan Island, and successfully suppressed the neighboring Taiyuan Port, making the Dutch choose to surrender. Although this development direction is not to expand the sphere of influence northward as expected by some civil servants, Kaohsiung Port is undoubtedly an excellent overseas sub-base, and its strategic significance can be said to be no less than that of Camlan occupied by Haihan on the southern coast of Annan. Bay.
"In the future, as we develop northward, the support that Kaohsiung and Penghu can provide cannot be compared with that of Hainan Island. Our personnel and materials can all be raised locally, instead of all having to travel thousands of miles from Hainan. Send it over. To achieve all this, in addition to investing in the construction of ports, cities, and plantations locally, there is one more thing we must do, and that is to expand the size of our troops stationed there.”
As Yan Chujie spoke, he motioned to his subordinates to display the prepared map in the conference room: "Everyone, please see, the sea area we actually control in the Tainan area has exceeded the size of Hainan Island, but now we only have one fleet that is not fully equipped. Stationed there. We all know that it is impossible for such a fleet to undertake the multiple tasks of guarding local waters and ports and launching military operations northward. In fact, we have now had to carry out this small fleet. After splitting, one part is stationed in Magong Port, Penghu, and the other part is stationed in Kaohsiung Port, Tainan. Everyone, if we plan to control the northern region next, or even continue to expand our sphere of influence northward along the mainland coastline, then we must increase the number of troops. The size of the navy stationed there”
Yan Chujie glanced at Gu Kai who was about to speak, and immediately stopped him: "If someone wants to suggest that ships be transferred from other existing fleets to Fujian, then I think there is no need to publish such a fallacy. Everyone, the First Fleet is currently responsible for the security of the entire Hainan Island and the Qiongzhou Strait. I don’t need to say more about how much defense pressure there is. The Second Fleet is stationed at the Pearl River Estuary. This is our current trade lifeline, trade with the Ming Dynasty. More than 70% of them enter the mainland through the Pearl River, and the coastline that the fleet needs to guard is no less than that of Hainan Island. The Third Fleet is currently deployed to Cam Ranh Port in the south, which is the only large military port between us and Nanyang. , is also the only strategic support point that can provide military support to Ambona Island. The strength of these three fleets is already overwhelmed, and it is impossible to fill the gap in our strength in the Fujian waters by digging the east wall to make up for the west wall. .”
"Then what you mean is that we should build one or two more fleets in the coming year to enrich the navy?" Gu Kai waited until he finished speaking before he questioned: "Lao Yan, in the foreseeable future, we will There is no possibility of large-scale maritime operations. Even if the Dutch and the Spanish on Taiwan join forces, we can dispatch a fleet from Guangdong to fight. You mentioned the issue of the incomplete formation of the fourth fleet. The main ship will be deployed next year. The outfitting will be completed in the first quarter. Who else in the entire Fujian Sea can match it? Even if the Dutch and Spanish on Taiwan Island join forces, they will not be able to defeat our Fourth Fleet. You just said that the fleet needs to be guarded. The sea area is too large, but we have no opponents at all in the waters of Fuzhou and Guangzhou. In fact, there is not that much defense pressure, right? I don’t think there is a need to rush to build a fleet.”
< br>
"You are short-sighted!" Yan Chujie reprimanded and picked up the teacup from the table: "Tom, come and refute him. I'll drink some water first to moisten my throat."
Wang Tom stood up after hearing this and said: "This is not the first time we have talked about the topic of the navy becoming an army, but I still want to emphasize again that the army cannot be used as a model when the navy becomes an army. An ordinary person with sound limbs only needs a hundred It takes about a day or so to train a soldier with basic combat skills, but a sailor who has been on a ship for a year is likely to still be just a rookie. In order for the navy to become combat effective, both soldiers and ships must go through a long period of running-in. OK, this kind of running-in cannot be completed in three to five months. What we have to do is to plan the development direction for the next two to three years or even longer, and start training the troops in advance for this, even if we pass the new fleet today. We cannot guarantee what will happen in the future, because the development situation of this time and space has begun to deviate from our control. history, the future has become unknown, and the preparation we can do is to strengthen our weapons as much as possible. A powerful and invincible army is the source of our confidence!”
"Well said!" Yan Chujie took the lead in applauding, but there were only a few people in the conference room, so it was a bit awkward. It is obvious that even if most people do not oppose the military's plan, they have no intention of publicly supporting it.
(End of chapter)