Chapter 918 Qui Nhon Port
Just take military exercises as an example. The army in this era often only did some marching drills on the school grounds. Even if they imitated the offensive and defensive situations in wartime, most of them were just for show, and they had no actual effect on improving the combat effectiveness of the troops. Very limited. Field exercise plans like these developed by Haihan are extremely novel training methods for the Annan army, and the effects are obvious. The Annan troops that participate in joint military exercises every year will find that their strength has improved when comparing their conditions before and after participating in the exercises. In addition, there has been basically no war in Annan in recent years, and there is no condition to send out the Haihan militia in rotation to fight. The joint military exercise is almost their only opportunity to simulate wartime environment training.
Because the Haihan Militia's record during the Annan Civil War was so brilliant, the Annan military highly praised everything about the Haihan Militia after the war, from recruitment and selection to rewards and punishments, from weapons and equipment to training methods, basically starting from scratch. It completely replicates the model of the Haihan Militia. Even the military institutions were reorganized according to the Haihan model. In addition to retaining the name of the Ministry of War, internal institutions and officials at all levels abandoned the naming method that followed the Ming Dynasty and adopted the Haihan system.
Haihan was naturally happy to see such changes, and even took the initiative to invest in transforming and upgrading the former Tushan training camp into Tushan Military Academy, specifically used to train new troops and grassroots officers for Annan. In order to implement the new military system as soon as possible, Haihan also deliberately relaxed the quota of senior officers selected to study abroad at the Sanya Military Academy every year, so that all officers in the Annan Army who hold positions above the battalion level can master their due knowledge and skills as soon as possible. The deeper these senior officers understand the Haihan military system, the more awe they feel. After all, there is a strength gap between the two sides. Only those who truly understand the situation on both sides can realize the horror of this gap.
Annan has a long and narrow land with thousands of miles of coastline. It has an inherent emphasis on coastal defense. In addition to striving to build a strong navy, amphibious operations in offshore areas are also a training project that it attaches great importance to. Although such military The exercise cost a lot of military money, and it was incomparable to the paddling exercise on the school field. However, the Annan Military Department gritted its teeth and sent troops to participate in order to accumulate more battlefield experience and learn from the sea. Han learned some more practical tactics here.
The coalition fleet spent most of the day conducting amphibious landing exercises on Cham Island, and then rested for one night before continuing southward. Starting from Cham Island and continuing south for about 145 nautical miles, we arrived at Qui Nhon Port, the second supply point on this trip.
Quy Nhon was once the capital of the Champa State in history. In the 1570s, Le Thanh Tong of the Le Dynasty of Annam personally led an army to attack Champa and occupied most of the territory of the Champa State after defeating his opponent. Quy Nhon is also among them. By the end of the 16th century, because the Champa State supported the Sultanate of Johor against the Portuguese colonists, it angered the Nguyen regime in southern Annam, which had an alliance with Portugal at the time. The Nguyen family raised troops to further compress the territory of Champa to the south.
After Haihan crossed over in this century, he quickly ended the North-South split that had lasted for decades in Annan. However, the Champa State did not get back their lost territory. Instead, the Zheng regime, which was supported by Haihan, continued to Drive south. If Haihan had not later found a balance between Champa and Annan and deliberately restricted Annan, it is estimated that Champa would have suffered a national annihilation in just a few years.
Quy Nhon, the former Champa capital, was assigned to Hai Han as a concession port after the Annan Civil War. Because of the history of Quy Nhon Port, the infrastructure of the port area is pretty good, and its location is right in the middle area between Da Nang and Cam Ranh Port, so it was selected by Haihan to develop in the southern part of Indochina. One of the four ports.
There is nothing special about Quy Nhon's production, so Haihan followed the simple and easy-to-operate concept in developing the place, making full use of the seaside plain terrain to reclaim farmland and build salt fields. Grain and salt are two products that are in great demand in any country at any time. Although they may not make a lot of money, the income will be relatively stable and support the local economic problems without much problem. Moreover, Haihan has rich development and operation experience in these two industries, making it easier to get started.
The Quy Nhon Salt Farm has been in production for less than a year, but it has already captured nearly half of the sea salt market south of Hue. However, unlike the way Haihan sold smuggled salt in the Ming Dynasty, the sales of Haihan Salt Farm in Annan are basically through official channels, which means that the salt produced by the salt farm is directly purchased by the Annan government and then sold to the market under the name of official salt. superior. Although this method will reduce the profits of this business, the stability of the income is much better than selling private salt, and the Annan government seems to be happy to use this method to control its domestic salt market. After all, Haihan Manufacturing The production cost of the salt model is much lower than the official salt produced in Annan in the past. The government purchased salt directly from Haihan and made more money than producing it itself.
Compared with the other four ports in the south, Qui Nhon Port's maritime trade is not that developed, and it is not a military location. Two-thirds of the more than 3,000 local residents work in the farms and salt fields under the Haihan Ministry of Agriculture, so life here is calmer. Because there are garrisons in Cam Ranh and Da Nang in the south and north, Hai Han has not even deployed militia troops in Quy Nhon Port. The local security is completely maintained by the police agency.
However, in order to welcome the arrival of the combined fleet, the Haihan Militia in Annan had already mobilized a platoon of troops and rushed here from Camlan to make preparations. These people were specially transferred here not out of concern for safety issues, but in order to be able to organize the various supplies needed by the combined fleet locally in advance and clear the dock location for the fleet to dock. Although these matters are not particularly complicated, they involve various military secrets of the combined fleet and cannot be handled by ordinary agencies.
The arrival of the combined fleet is good news for the local people. Just providing various supplies for these thousands of people is enough to make many local farms make a fortune. However, on the night when the fleet arrived at Quy Nhon Port, a small accident occurred.
Several Annan sailors got drunk and made trouble in a tavern in the port area. They clashed with local dock workers. One of the sailors got drunk and stabbed one of them with a military dagger he carried. They waited for the security police and the joint fleet to arrive. When the gendarmerie arrived, the injured man had already breathed his last. The people who caused the trouble were all caught on the spot, but no one escaped.
The nature of this matter is not complicated. The only thing that needs to be considered is how to sentence the offending soldiers. Annan's military naturally hopes that major problems will be reduced to minor ones, and finally it will spend money to eliminate disasters, and try not to let this small unpleasantness affect the good relations between the two armies. But after Yan Chujie learned about the matter, he insisted on dealing with it publicly in order to give an explanation to the local people.
However, Zheng Zha did not come forward to argue with Yan Chujie this time. With his status, it was impossible for him to plead with Yan Chujie for such a trivial matter. Zheng Zha just sent someone to inquire about Yan Chujie's attitude. After understanding, he ordered the perpetrators to be handed over to Haihan's side. This is not because Zheng Zha is selfless, but when the two parties signed the concession agreement, it included content related to the concession law. According to the original agreement, all civil and criminal cases that occurred in the concession port would be handed over to the local authorities to handle them according to Haihan law. The agreement did not clearly define the identity of the criminal, leaving the right of judicial interpretation to Haihan's side. This means that if an Annan citizen is arrested for committing a crime in the concession port, will it be handed over to the Annan government for disposal in accordance with Annan law, or will it be handled by the local management committee in accordance with Haihan law? Its decision-making power and scale will be different. In the hands of Haihan. If the person who committed the crime was an Annan official or other Annan national with status, then the management committee might put a higher priority on it, but if it was just a group of ordinary Annan sailors, there would be no favors to say. If Zheng Zha came forward to intercede, perhaps he could indeed save all the subordinates who committed the crime, but Zheng Zha's face was not so worthless, so this group of people could only admit that they were unlucky.
So on the second day when the combined fleet stayed at Quy Nhon Port, Yan Chujie personally organized a temporary military court to interrogate several Annan sailors who committed crimes, and Zheng Zha was also invited to observe. The facts of this case are clear, the evidence is clear, both witnesses and material evidence are present, and the parties involved were caught in the act. There is nothing controversial about the case.
The final judgment of the court was also relatively fair and was divided into two parts: military law and criminal law. In terms of military law, all those involved were sentenced to thirty strikes with a military stick. This punishment was only physical hardship, but it was not too harsh. However, the penalties under criminal law are much more severe. Those involved were sentenced to varying amounts of compensation based on their level of participation and corresponding responsibilities. The criminal who caused death was sentenced to ten years of hard labor for manslaughter. , during which the sentence shall not be commuted, and the place of execution shall be designated by Haihan.
Zheng Zhu, who was watching, was quite satisfied with the result. He originally thought that since Yan Chujie didn't agree to make a big deal out of a trivial matter and use money to solve it, he would probably stick to the murder-for-life sentencing method. Although the life of a soldier is not important, if he is sentenced to death, it will still have an impact on the reputation of Annan's army - not because the soldier committed a crime, but because he was seized by Haihan's court. Take your life.
But since the people involved in the case can now save their lives, Zheng Zha has no doubts about the verdict. As for the ten years of hard labor, this was considered a well-deserved crime. After all, this was a murder case, and it was considered a very lenient sentence if he was not allowed to pay with his life.
"Does the young prince have any opinions on the penalty?" After Yan Chujie announced the court's penalty, he did not forget to ask Zheng Zha who was watching. However, this kind of inquiry is basically just a formality. No matter what Zheng Zha's answer is, Yan Chujie is not prepared to change the judgment that has been made.
Zheng Zha's tone was very calm: "General Yan's penalty is very fair. I think there is no problem."
"Since the young prince also thinks there is no problem, then we will announce the results of the trial to the outside world." Yan Chujie insisted on hearing the case in public to avoid fluctuations in local public sentiment. After all, there are usually no troops stationed here. If the local people are disgusted with the army because of this, that is not a situation that Yan Chujie can accept. Publicizing the results of the investigation can appease local public sentiment to some extent.
Sure enough, due to Yan Chujie's quick and proper handling of the matter, local public sentiment did not have major fluctuations due to this incident. However, starting from the day of the incident, all shops selling alcohol in Quy Nhon Port area were ordered to ban sales until the joint fleet left the local area. Yan Chujie had originally planned an itinerary to inspect the local farm salt field, but after being disturbed by this episode, he could only choose to visit one or two places briefly, otherwise the entire fleet's itinerary would be affected.
After resting for two nights at Quy Nhon Port, the combined fleet set off and continued southward. Sailing about 140 nautical miles south from Quy Nhon Port is Cam Ranh Port, the largest comprehensive port built by Haihan in Indochina.
The natural conditions of Cam Ranh Port are undoubtedly the best among the four ports in the south. This two bays are formed by the two peninsulas of Chongkong Mountain and Fenghuang Mountain. The inner port is Cam Ranh and the outer port is Pingba. It is surrounded by four altitudes. Surrounded by mountains of about 100 meters, the entire harbor water area reaches 100 square kilometers. The harbor water is deep enough to berth large ships of the size of aircraft carriers.
Cam Ranh Bay is a place in another time and space. It has been used as a large military port by the great powers since the beginning of the 20th century. France, Russia, Japan, the United States and other countries have all set up military bases there and stationed troops there for a long time.
From the beginning of their journey, Haihan and his gang had designated Cam Ranh Bay as a strategic location that must be brought under their own control, and this goal was quickly realized after the Annan Civil War ended. However, because the harbor area here is so large and the number of immigrants imported is relatively limited, the development progress is not too fast. The South China Sea Fleet, whose main troops and ships are stationed here, often has to play the role of supervisor, assisting the Ministry of Construction in completing the planning and construction of the port area.
For the planning and construction of Cam Ranh Port, Haihan made advanced arrangements and set up a large-scale military dock area in the port. Even if two fleets of combined fleet size arrive at the same time, this place still has basic reception capabilities. However, due to the huge scale of the project, it is still under construction today. According to the plan of the Ministry of Construction, it will take about three or four years to complete the basic planning status. With such a huge port construction plan, only a few places such as Jilong Port in Tainan and Dinghai Port on Zhoushan Island can rival it.
(End of chapter)