Chapter 827 Looking North
When it comes to cooperating with the Haihan people to do business, especially investing in an undeveloped area, businessmen in Fujian, especially the Xu family, have already tasted the benefits. So when Haihan started attracting investment in Kaohsiung Port, the Fujian Chamber of Commerce was a little resentful because it was later than its Guangdong counterpart. However, the area of developable area near Kaohsiung is really large and may not be fully developed within three to five years. Therefore, after the Fujian side understood the situation, they did not urge Haihan to open up new areas.
But Haihan is obviously not satisfied with this development zone in Tainan. Hearing Qian Tiandun's tone, Xu Jiaqi obviously plans to copy Kaohsiung's development model in other areas on the island of Taiwan, but this time he can't let the Cantonese guys take the lead. .
"General Qian, last time we let the Cantonese take the lead in Kaohsiung, we can't favor them this time!" Xu Jiaqi reminded: "We can follow the money provided by Guangdong."
Qian Tiandun waved his hand and said: "It's useless just telling me about this matter. You have to go to the Ministry of Commerce. I just want to tell you how to communicate. You can talk to the Ministry of Commerce on your own. Our military does not Will participate.”
"Yes, yes, I understand, I understand!" Xu Jiaqi saw that Qian Tiandun wanted to put aside the relationship, so he stopped dwelling on this issue. He has been dealing with the Haihan people for a long time, and he also knows that the Haihan military is quite taboo about military personnel involved in business. Even in the arms trade, people from the Haihan Ministry of Commerce have always played the leading role, while the military only sends technical personnel to provide guidance. The Ming army uses it and will not directly participate in the transaction process. The same is true for projects to develop plantations. The military only provides security guarantees, but specific project operations are implemented by the Ministry of Commerce and the Ministry of Agriculture.
After sending Xu Jiaqi away who was beaming with joy, Qian Tiandun summoned the person in charge of the Ministry of Civil Affairs in Penghu and conveyed to him the Executive Committee’s decision to build two new immigration reception stations at Tamsui River Estuary and Jilong Port in Taipei. . In the future, part of the immigrants introduced from the northern region will be allocated to Taipei for resettlement. Especially in the Jilonggang area where a large number of infrastructure projects will be carried out in the future, thousands of labors will be needed, and most of them must be solved nearby. Intercepting immigrants imported from the north is undoubtedly a good way.
Of course, this also requires the Ministry of Civil Affairs to find ways to improve the efficiency of introducing immigrants from northern Daming. Otherwise, the number of immigrants introduced every month may not be enough for the development of Taiwan, and then there will be no way to transport people to Hainan Island. . For Hainan Island, which is in a period of rapid development, the demand for labor is actually much greater than that of Taiwan Island, which has just started. It's just that Taiwan Island is located at an important node on the northward route, and it happens to be an "unowned land". The Executive Committee originally intended to occupy it and build it into Haihan's second important town, so it spared no effort to do so. Troops and various resources were invested locally.
But for Qian Tiandun, expelling the Western colonists on Taiwan Island was just the completion of a set combat mission by the special operations battalion, and the implementation of this mission was much less difficult than expected. After two battles, The number of casualties in the special operations battalion barely exceeded double digits. To be able to maintain this level of battle losses in the siege battle was definitely extremely low. Whether it is personnel losses or actual military expenditures, they are actually much lower than Qian Tiandun's psychological expectations before the war.
It may take a long time for the Military Commission to complete the assessment of the merits of this battle. It is hard to say whether it can be completed in time for the annual public award ceremony during the anniversary next month. However, Qian Tiandun does not care much about these official achievements. Ceremony, after all, when it is time to be promoted to a higher rank, one must have a part in it. He has now begun to plan the next course of action after completing the military occupation of Taiwan Island.
Before the military targeted Taiwan, the Executive Committee set the direction of northward expansion along the coast of Zhejiang in order to speed up the introduction of immigrants from the north. However, due to various objective reasons, the military ultimately took the decision to modify the original plan. development plan. Later facts proved that the military's assertion was indeed correct. Haihan took control of Taiwan Island without spending much effort. However, the opposition was worried that the attacking troops might fail due to their inability to attack the city. The situation of falling into a long-term war did not happen. The only two siege battles were uneventful, and they were basically unilateral defeats of the other side.
Of course, Takahashi Minami, who is responsible for directing military operations in Taipei, must have contributed a lot to achieving such a record. If Qian Tiandun had been in charge personally, it might not have gone more smoothly than him. This bold appointment indeed achieved excellent results, and it also accumulated experience for the military to boldly appoint naturalized civilian officers in the future.
After completing the operation in Taipei, Qian Tiandun believed that it was time to readjust the direction of the operation and return to the previous plan. According to Haihan's consistent development strategy, the control and penetration of Ming Dynasty is mainly achieved by controlling its territory and sea power. Therefore, when choosing a foothold in Zhejiang, the military still mainly considers large offshore islands.
From Hainan Island to Hong Kong Island at the Pearl River Estuary, to Penghu in the Fujian Strait and the newly occupied Taiwan Island, the voyage between each stronghold of Haihan's leapfrog development has been carefully calculated to ensure Haihan's maritime transportation capacity and The armed forces are able to maintain normal operations between these strongholds. As for the next stop, the Haihan military has already made plans - the Zhoushan Islands located outside Hangzhou Bay.
In terms of voyage, the voyage from Penghu to Zhoushan Islands is slightly longer than the previous strongholds. However, this small problem has been solved after Haihan occupied Taipei. The straight-line voyage from Taipei to Zhoushan is only a little over 300 nautical miles, which is the same as Hong Kong. The voyage between Penghu and Penghu is almost the same. There are only more than a hundred nautical miles between Penghu and Taipei, so we can safely extend Haihan's chain sea control line to the north without worrying about the long voyage being unable to provide timely supplies or support.
As for the specific destination, the military is interested in Zhoushan Island, the fourth largest island in China's territory in the future. This island with an area of more than 500 square kilometers is the main island in the Zhoushan Islands. The county seat of Wengshan County was established as early as the Kaiyuan period of the Tang Dynasty. During the Xining period of the Northern Song Dynasty, Wang Anshi petitioned the court to restore the county government here. Song Shenzong approved the application and changed the name of the place to "Changguo". "It means that it controls Japan in the east, Denglai in the north, Ou and Fujian in the south, and Wuhui in the west. It is a huge obstacle in the sea, which is enough to strengthen the country."
In the 15th year of Yuan Dynasty, Changguo County was promoted to a state due to the increase in population. According to records, the population of Zhoushan Islands at this time had exceeded 120,000. In addition to the place name Changguo, the name "Zhoushan" also began to appear in historical materials. It is recorded in the "Illustrated Records of Changguo Prefecture" of the Yuan Dynasty: "Zhoushan, in the south of the prefecture, has mountains with wings like the Mekong on the sea, and boats gather here, hence the name." However, such a prosperous scene did not last for too long. , with the relaxation of coastal defenses in the late Yuan and early Republic of China, Japanese pirates began to enter this area. During the Hongwu period of the Ming Dynasty, Japanese pirates became more and more rampant and used Changguo as a sea springboard to enter the mainland for plunder. However, the Ming court actually adopted a passive approach of emigrating people and banning the sea. First, they changed the prefecture to a county, and later abolished it altogether. The administrative office of Changguo County completely left this area under the control of Japanese pirates. This situation has never been completely improved since the early Ming Dynasty.
Although state governments such as Ningbo Prefecture, Shaoxing Prefecture, Jiaxing Prefecture, and Hangzhou Prefecture have carried out several campaigns against Japanese pirates at sea, there are many islands in the Zhoushan Archipelago, with as many as 58 islands covering an area of more than one square kilometer. Many islands There are natural harbors that can be used. Pirates and Japanese pirates have three cunning holes. It is difficult to completely eradicate them with the ability of the Ming navy. More than two hundred years have passed since the early years of Hongwu, but the piracy problem in this area has still not been eradicated. The only thing that the government is thankful for is that the pirates operating in this area have not yet appeared as large armed groups like the Shibazhi. Although they often rob passing merchant ships at sea, they do not threaten the big cities near the coast.
If Haihan wants to establish a new stronghold in the Zhoushan Islands, he must face the pirate gangs that have been operating in this area all year round. Coexisting with pirates is definitely an impossible and unacceptable situation. What Haihan must do is to drive these pirates out of this sea area or completely annihilate them. Of course, if the military is allowed to choose, the latter solution is probably more to their liking. After all, the number of captured enemy troops annihilated is also an important basis for post-war meritorious rewards, and just driving away pirates will obviously result in military merit being calculated after the war. Very disadvantaged.
However, the situation in the waters of the Zhoushan Islands is much more complicated than when they first fought in Penghu. In addition, the local pirates operate in small gangs. Unlike Shibazhi, they can be severely damaged by just biting their main force. Although there is a huge difference in strength between the two sides, it is indeed not an easy task for the Haihan Army to completely eliminate the pirates in the Zhoushan Islands. Just cleaning up the many islands in this sea area will definitely take a long time.
If you want to send a small fleet to assist the army in landing like they did against the Spaniards in Taipei before, this tactic may not be very effective in the Zhoushan Islands. The local pirate camps are definitely not as strong as the Spanish castles, but the problem is that they will not stick to their strongholds like the Spanish. The vast sea area will make it several times more difficult for Haihan to attack them. The most practical way is probably to send a powerful fleet to repeatedly clear this sea area by pulling a net, leaving no room for it to maneuver.
Haihan's fleet will naturally not have any problems with its combat capabilities. After all, even the Dutch and Spanish have suffered losses one after another, and the pirate ship's armament level is even more difficult to compete head-on with Haihan's warship. However, the problem is that to send a large number of warships to fight locally, the preparations required before the war are much more troublesome than fighting Taiwan.
If this combat plan is still made solely by the staff team at the Penghu base, there will be too many projects that cannot be coordinated. Therefore, Qian Tiandun can only report his intention to the Military Commission first, and the staff department under the Military Commission will formulate relevant combat plans and unify them. Arrange the mobilization of troops participating in the war and the supply of logistical supplies. The time required for this process may be one or two months, or it may be three to five months or even longer, depending on changes in the external environment to a certain extent. Especially now that Taiwan has just been obtained, and the Dutch and Spanish have been offended at the same time, and they have to guard against retaliation from these two families for a period of time, the military power that can be invested in the north will become extremely limited.
Of course, Qian Tiandun would not sit back and wait. Since he would have to go north sooner or later, before the staff came up with a specific action plan, he hoped to learn more about the offshore waters north of the Fujian Strait through various investigation methods. regional conditions, and use this to revise the combat plan formulated by the military.
Regarding the intelligence collection work in the coastal areas of the Ming Dynasty, the Haihan Security Department has actually been conducting it. However, the Haihan Security Department lacks spies with military backgrounds. Therefore, most of the intelligence that can be collected from the Ming Dynasty-controlled areas is based on political and commercial information. Mainly, there are rarely tasks such as surveying terrain, sea conditions and other information. Even if they receive such a task, unprofessional intelligence personnel can only understand the general situation, and they will not have much reference and promotion effect on the decisions that need to be made now.
Qian Tiandun's idea was to follow the example of the first landing in the Zhuoshui River area of Taiwan Island and send a small group of armed forces as a reconnaissance team to conduct reconnaissance and intelligence collection in non-controlled areas. The advantage of this is that the intelligence collection will be more targeted. After all, the military people know better what critical information they need.
However, the risk of this reconnaissance plan is much higher than the original operation in the Zhuoshui River Basin. After all, Zhuoshui River is very close to Penghu. If there is trouble, Penghu can send reinforcements to the area that day. However, the Zhoushan Islands are more than 300 nautical miles away from Taipei. If the reconnaissance troops are in danger there, there will be no time to provide support.
Qian Tiandun actually wanted to lead the team to do this in person, but he also knew that the Military Commission would definitely not agree with him risking his life. After all, it was no longer like the time when the time traveled when no one was available. This kind of task was simply not possible. If Qian Tiandun needs to personally take action, the reconnaissance platoon directly under the special operations battalion and the navy's elite personnel can execute it. The scene where the North American gang and him performed reconnaissance missions behind enemy lines in Annan would probably be difficult to reappear in the future. After all, these gang members now all hold important positions in various places, and even the possibility of entering the same battlefield at the same time is very small. Very little.
In late March, Qian Tiandun did not wait for the Military Commission's reply on the matter. Instead, he first waited for the No. 4 "Enterprise" of the "Dignity-class" warship assigned to serve in Penghu.
(End of chapter)