Chapter 886 Northern Immigration
Being able to capture the wanted Zhoushan Boat Gang leader Wang Jialin on the second day of the operation is definitely good news for the troops participating in the war. The headquarters mobilized troops and organized troops to go into the mountain to suppress the bandits. A large part of the reason was that Wang Jialin, a dangerous element, had not been caught. Now that the bandit leader has been arrested, the headquarters can finally carry out subsequent production and construction work on the island with peace of mind.
However, the special operations battalion's anti-bandit mission does not end here. In addition to escorting Wang Jialin and other captured personnel to Dinghai Fort, they will still conduct several consecutive days of anti-bandit operations in the mountainous area as originally planned. Of course, as the number one hero, Sun Zhen does not need to participate in the operations in the next few days. He will be responsible for escorting Wang Jialin to Dinghai Fort and reporting to the headquarters how to capture the target person. As for recording merit, reporting to the Military Commission, and applying for awards, we can all look forward to it.
However, for several senior officers in the headquarters, Wang Jialin's life or death was secondary. What was more important was to find out from him where the Zhoushan Ship Gang's property was hidden. Based on various intelligence information obtained previously, both Qian Tiandun and Shi Diwen believed that the property transferred out of the island by the Zhoushan Boat Gang before the war should only be a small part, and there must be many more buried somewhere on the island, and Wang Jialin should obviously be The people who know these situations best. The direct benefits that Haihan can obtain from the operation to capture Zhoushan Island will still fall on Wang Jialin.
The people from the Special Service Office of the Ministry of Security rushed to the headquarters in Dinghai Fort to report as soon as they got the news. Gong Shiqi specially brought two torture experts from Guanyuan and Guanping over, intending to pry open the case as soon as possible. Wang Jialin's mouth. However, his plan did not come into use. Wang Jialin was probably so disheartened by repeated defeats that he only wanted to save his life in exchange for revealing the place where he hid his belongings.
The next day, Qian Tiandun and Shi Diwen personally led the team to the two treasure sites on Zhoushan Island that Wang Jialin had told them about. Even high-ranking Haihan officials like them, who have little interest in money, could not help but marvel when they saw the mountains of gold and silver treasures piled up in the treasure place. After a preliminary inventory, it was found that the value of the wealth hidden by the Zhoushan Boat Gang in these two places exceeded one million taels of silver. The harvest has set a new record for the Haihan Militia after the war, and is even more than what was captured in Annan, Hoi An, and The benefits for the two big cities of Hue are even greater. The military's proportionate share of these seizures alone is enough to cover the military expenses of the expedition to Zhejiang so far.
Originally, these wealth should have been obtained when Haihan captured Zhoushan, but due to a strange combination of circumstances, it was delayed for more than half a month. Fortunately, Haihan had firm control of Zhoushan Island, making it impossible for Wang Jialin to smuggle this wealth out of the island. Although the Zhoushan Boat Gang still has many properties that are difficult to recover in Ningbo, they are nothing compared to those hidden on the island.
However, this money may not all be sealed and sent back to Sanya, because the money required for the construction of the Zhoushan Port Area will be a huge astronomical figure, and it will be a continuous investment. The planned southern port area will probably take several years to complete.
But compared to the several port areas at the north and south ends of Taiwan Island in the south, which are also in the early stages of development, Zhoushan Island has an unparalleled advantage in that it is very close to the mainland. It is ten times closer than the voyage between Taiwan Island and Fujian. Whether it is conducting trade or introducing population, Zhoushan Island is obviously more convenient. Moreover, as a transit station for immigrants from the north heading south, it is logical to intercept some immigrants with good quality. In particular, those who are educated and literate have become priority candidates for recruitment and naturalization arrangements.
One day in early June, three immigrant ships from the north arrived at Dinghai Port. They were the first batch of northern immigrants accepted by Haihan after taking over Zhoushan Island. The carrier was Liu Zhenguo, a Fujian maritime merchant who had been accepting immigrants since the beginning of last year. Undertaken the business of organizing the transportation of immigrants from the north for Haihan. Although this business is risky, the profits are also huge. If you don't believe it, just look at the increase in the number of ships Liu Zhenguo invested on this route from the original four to the current fourteen, which can clearly illustrate the problem.
When this ship went north a month ago, Liu Zhenguo personally led the team. At that time, Haihan had already captured Liuheng Island and was in the stage of preparing to attack Zhoushan Island. Shi Diwen and Qian Tiandun had both stayed in Fujian for a long time, and they also knew Liu Zhenguo. He knew the battle situation in much more detail than the people outside, so he dared to let the fleet sail directly in on the return trip. Stop at Dingding Bay. When passing through this area of the sea, in order to avoid trouble, he always required ships to go around the east of Zhoushan Islands and only dock in Taizhou for supplies.
After Liu Zhenguo got off the boat, he found that Qian Tiandun was waiting for him on the dock. He was so flattered that he hurried over to say hello to Qian Tiandun: "General Qian is so flattering, it's really a shame to kill a villain!"
Qian Tiandun responded with a smile: "Boss Liu has worked hard all the way. I asked someone to prepare a table of light wine to welcome Boss Liu. But please don't dislike the poor conditions in our place!"
Liu Zhenguo even said he didn't dare, but in his heart he was thinking that this Haihan man took the initiative to host a banquet to greet him, fearing that something would happen to him. But his current main business is the immigration route between the north and the south. Presumably what Qian Tiandun wants to discuss with him at the banquet will also be related to this.
Liu Zhenguo expected it to be true. After drinking for three rounds, Qian Tiandun took the initiative to bring up the business: "We heard that the war in Shandong in the north has basically subsided. What is the current situation there?"
Liu Zhenguo put down his chopsticks and replied: "The rebellion of Kong Youde and others has come to an end, but the chaos in Shandong is still unresolved. Last year, we fought for a whole year, hundreds of thousands of people were displaced, and many people fell into the grass just to survive. After the chaos last year, many weapons flowed into the civilian population. Now there are at least five or six groups of bandits in Shandong using Ming army equipment, and there are even small groups of cavalry and naval forces. It’s a headache. To eliminate these bandits, we have to mobilize officers and soldiers from various states to encircle and suppress them. But now Shandong is a scorched earth. Except for the troops stationed in Dengzhou City and Laizhou City, other places cannot maintain the supplies needed for the army to be stationed. What’s more, Not to mention the war. Only a few big cities are in slightly better condition, but other places are still in terrible chaos.”
Qian Tiandun nodded and then asked: "What is the situation among the people? Has the government organized people to return to their hometowns to help themselves through production?"
Liu Zhenguo shook his head and said: "It's not that the government doesn't care, but that it really can't handle it. Hundreds of thousands of refugees are like locusts, eating up wherever they go. Even if they return to their hometown, the local area cannot support so many people. You Think about it, there was no harvest in most places last year, and the grain in the official warehouses had long been robbed by the rebels. The riots in the Central Plains were even worse, and they could not provide food to Shandong. Those who wanted to survive still had to There are only two escape routes, north and south. This time we went north to Lingshanwei and Aoshanwei. The miserable situation of the local refugees was still the same as it was during the war. Having said that, if it weren't for the benevolence and righteousness of the leaders of Haihan, they would give money and food to these refugees. , sent them south to resettle, and I don’t know how many people died of starvation and disease there. Although the villain brought the refugees back from the north for money, he also admired the leaders for their righteous deeds, and offered a toast to General Qian. A little thanks! ”
Qian Tiandun said a few polite words and toasted with him, then continued to ask: "Based on the situation Boss Liu saw in the north, how willing are the local refugees to go south? If the government is willing to rescue the refugees, how long will it take to return to normal? "Social order?" Liu Zhenguo said: "Given the current situation of the refugees, it's good to have food to eat. There's no room for choice. What's more, starting from this year, every time we accept immigrants from the north, they will have to return from the south." Along with the people, these local people will publicize Haihan's good deeds, and the villain will save a lot of trouble. After the villain returns to Fujian this time, he plans to see if he can buy more boats and bring as many people back as possible. As for the measures taken by the local government... I think it will take at least two or three years to return to the situation before the war."
Qian Tiandun pondered for a while before speaking again: "If Zhoushan can provide you with a batch of ships, do you have the ability to open another short route to run back and forth between Shandong and Zhoushan?"
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Although Liu Zhenguo was a little surprised after hearing this, he quickly nodded and responded: "This should be possible, but the villain doesn't have that many sailors at the moment. However, there are quite a few refugees from Denglai and Denglai states who can drive boats. , it will be easy to recruit a group of sailors from the local area.”
"Then we will discount the price of the ship to offset the freight. Is it acceptable to Boss Liu? Of course, you can choose the ship yourself, and the price can be negotiated. In short, you will not suffer a loss." Qian Tiandun continued to offer conditions.
Liu Zhenguo had roughly guessed the reason when he heard this, but he would not say it without the sense of humor. He immediately responded: "Since it is General Qian's wish, I should obey it. I don't know when to start taking care of this matter?"
"You have a rest today, and I'll have someone take you to the dock to pick up a boat tomorrow." Qian Tiandun was very happy when he saw Liu Zhenguo agreeing readily, and took the initiative to toast Liu Zhenguo.
The reason why Qian Tiandun specially invited Liu Zhenguo to discuss this matter was mainly due to the executive committee's deployment of Zhoushan. Since the waters of Zhoushan Islands have not yet been completely cleaned up, and the Zhejiang government’s attitude towards Haihan’s arrival is still unclear, the Executive Committee believes that it is necessary for the special operations battalion to continue to be stationed in Zhoushan for a period of time, and then make new decisions after the situation stabilizes. deploy. Qian Tiandun, as a high-ranking official who presides over military and political affairs away from home all year round, has him sitting here in Zhoushan, so the executive committee feels more at ease.
Currently, Qian Tiandun is temporarily in charge of business, civil affairs and other affairs in the Zhoushan area, so he has a lot to worry about. For example, introducing immigrants to adjust the local population structure, such as processing a large amount of materials seized from this area during the war, including a large number of sea ships.
In addition to some ships that were damaged and destroyed by the Haihan fleet in the naval battle, the Haihan militia captured a large number of ships that had no time to escape after occupying Zhoushan Island. There were as many as 70 or 80 sailing ships with a displacement of more than 100 tons. . There are hundreds of miscellaneous boats.
The team responsible for counting the trophies first classified these boats according to their functions. For example, the fishing boats will probably stay locally. After the civil affairs department organizes a management organization at the commune level, they will be handed over to the commune for use as production tools. As for some cargo ships with long-distance voyages, it is temporarily difficult to use them because there are not enough sailors among the Haihan personnel stationed here. Moreover, the standard of these ships is confusing, which is not in line with the current development trend of the Ministry of Shipping to "achieve full self-production and unify ship models". Neither the Ministry of Commerce and Trade nor the Ministry of Shipping has much interest in taking over these ships.
It is certainly not difficult to sell these ships in Ningbo, where the shipping industry is relatively developed, but Qian Tiandun hopes to make the best use of them and make these ships more effective. Putting them on the route for transporting northern immigrants and converting these idle ships into people to be imported into Zhoushan can also be regarded as a feasible solution to deal with non-performing assets. It is worth mentioning that this method of processing will not touch the special funds of the Ministry of Civil Affairs for immigrant transportation, so the immigrant population in exchange for this will not need to be sent south, nor will it be detained in the south again because too many immigrants are detained. colleagues complained.
Qian Tiandun and Shi Diwen had specially planned this matter. If done properly, these sailing ships seized from pirates and smugglers could at least bring thousands of immigrants to the local area, and after these people arrive in Zhoushan, they will be able to migrate to Zhoushan in the next few years. The value that can be created for Haihan will definitely far exceed the cost of introducing them.
Liu Zhenguo was one of Haihan's longest-standing partners in the plan to introduce immigrants from the north. His proficiency and scale in transporting immigrants was second only to the shipping company owned by the Xu family, so Qian Tiandun made him his first salesperson. object. Liu Zhenguo was also quite sensible. Thinking that he would not suffer any loss in this transaction, he decisively agreed first.
In fact, the food needed to transport immigrants from the north has always been provided by Haihan. Even including the crew's salary and the cost of ship maintenance and depreciation, Liu Zhenguo really cannot suffer a loss in this transaction. He can make three round trips at most. , you can basically earn the value of a boat. The voyage from Jiaodong Peninsula to Zhoushan is half the distance to Penghu in the past. The time required to travel between the two places is also greatly reduced, and the corresponding expenses are naturally much lower. As long as the ship doesn't cause any accidents on the way, Liu Zhenguo will basically make a sure profit from taking this deal.
The next day, someone took Liu Zhenguo to pick out boats at another pier in Dinghai Bay. When Liu Zhenguo saw so many boats, he could pick out a few suitable ones even with his eyes closed. He was secretly glad that he agreed to Qian Tian's offer yesterday. Dun's request.
(End of chapter)