Chapter 1095 Labor Gap
Although it is currently in the Little Ice Age in history, Zhifu Island is still relatively hot in August. The surface temperature before the sun goes down is basically stable above 30 degrees. This also makes many soldiers who are rushing to build docks and camps Sweating like rain, very tired. Although the logistics department has taken some treatment and preventive measures, many people with fever and heat stroke still fall on the construction site every day.
Due to the limited transportation capacity of the fleet, the personnel of the fleet heading north this time are mainly military, and not many migrant workers came with the team. Therefore, various early infrastructure projects can only be shared among the various units heading north. This situation will probably continue for some time and will only improve after Haihan recruits a certain number of immigrants locally.
"At the earliest, hundreds of people can be transported back from Fushan County before the sun goes down today." Sun Changmi stood at the dock and said to Qian Tiandun and Wang Tom: "Of course, this will only happen if everything goes well. I hope Don't make any mistakes there."
Sun Changmi wore a wide-brimmed straw hat on his head, an open coat, and his trousers rolled up high. He did not look like a superior leader, but more like an informal foreman on a construction site. Since landing on Zhifu Island, he has been stationed at the dock construction site to take command. He has been really tired these past few days. As long as you get closer to him, you can clearly see the bloodshot eyes that appear due to lack of rest.
"With a few hundred people...it would be a blessing to have 50% of the Ding population." Qian Tiandun did not have much hope for the upcoming harvest: "For us, it can only be a drop in the bucket!" < br>
"A drop in the bucket is better than nothing!" Wang Tom could only sigh while facing Zhifu Bay, and responded to Qian Tiandun's evaluation with some helplessness.
The situation among the people in Zhifu Bay is somewhat different from what they expected before departure. They believe that even if there are not as many refugees as there were in the past two years along the Shandong coast, they should be able to recruit a certain number of people from near Zhifu Bay in the short term. , whether it is in exchange for money or in exchange for providing food, in short, a group of cheap labor can be obtained in a short period of time to engage in the preliminary infrastructure construction of the Zhifu Island base. But after arriving here, I discovered that the nearby coastal areas were already empty. For personal safety, the few people often gathered near the county town or garrison garrison to seek official asylum and refused to leave easily.
Like during the Annan Civil War, as soon as the ship docked at the coast, a large number of refugees gathered around and asked to get on the ship. This will definitely not happen here. Although Haihan estimates that the potential immigrant population in Shandong is still in the hundreds of thousands, it will still take a lot of time and more effort to mobilize these immigrants to participate in Haihan's plan. This relatively slow resettlement collection process will indeed have a certain impact on the implementation of the early infrastructure project plan.
Among those who are most dissatisfied with this current situation is naturally the military. Even the elites of the special operations battalion under Qian Tiandun now have to replace daily physical training with physical labor. The Navy, in addition to the scheduled maritime patrol officers, , everyone else also came ashore to work on the construction site moving bricks. Such an arrangement is obviously a huge waste of military personnel and combat materials transported thousands of miles to Shandong. These personnel should have been deployed in the areas around Zhifu Island to increase the scope of Dahaihan's control, thereby speeding up the recruitment of immigrants. , this is the correct deployment plan.
However, the time left for Haihan's construction is only about three months. Once winter enters, it will be much more difficult to carry out infrastructure construction outdoors than in summer. Now that there is no stable and reliable source of immigrants, it is naturally more important to rush for the construction period. No matter how unwilling the several military bosses are, they can only give in to the needs of the situation.
Although Qian Tiandun was mean and not optimistic about the immigration prospects of Fushan County, after receiving the report from the cavalry from Fushan County yesterday, he was not stingy at all about the possible sources of immigrants in the area and immediately decided to send his men Elite soldiers cooperated with the navy to go to the area for reinforcements.
"Chief, those immigration ships are back and are now sailing to Pier 3." While speaking, a staff member came to report good news to Sun Changmi. Piers No. 1 and 2 set up by Haihan on Zhifu Island are both located on Zhifu Bay, while Pier 3 is west of the sandbank connecting Zhifu Island to the mainland. The straight-line distance between here and the entrance of Jiahe River is only ten meters. From Duolidi, starting from Pier 3, it only takes more than an hour to sail into Jiahe at normal speed.
"Let's go! Let's take a look!" Wang Tom was the quickest to react when he heard the news. He patted Qian Tiandun on the shoulder and said, "Would you like to take a bet, how many people will come back this time? Whoever has the closest answer wins. ”
Qian Tiandun said: "What are you betting on?"
Tom Wang did not respond to him in a hurry, but turned around and dragged Sun Changmi into the water again: "Minister Sun, do you want to play together?"
Sun Changmi smiled and said: "Okay, Commander Wang, let's make some conditions! Let's agree first, we are all our own people, so don't be so vulgar about gambling money!"
"There's no point in gambling for money, let's do something else." Wang Tom rolled his eyes and said: "How about this, Camp No. 2 also needs to dig a reservoir for a thousand people, and the loser will contract this project? What if? If two families lose, let’s work together.”
"Okay, let me start by throwing some light. I guess four hundred people." Sun Changmi was also happy. As soon as Wang Tom finished speaking, he gave the number he guessed.
Qian Tiandun thought for a while and gave a higher number: "Then I guess five hundred people."
Tom Wang smiled and said: "You just said so meanly, how come you guessed so many numbers?"
Qian Tiandun said: "The news sent back yesterday said that there are large slums in the area, with at least two to three thousand people living there. I believe that Lao Ha's people should be able to bring back some people."
Wang Tom clapped his hands and said: "I forgot about Lao Ha. We should bring him to bet together."
"Farewell, most of his men and horses have been sent out, and only one company has been left on the island to prepare for duty. Is it really necessary to use this only mobile force to dig mud?" Qian Tiandun immediately asked Wang Tom's question. Opinion raised objections.
"Okay, stop talking about others, just tell me the number!" Sun Changmi couldn't help but urge when he saw Tom Wang rambling.
"Then I'll take a good guess, six hundred people." Wang Tom gave his answer with a smile: "I am still very optimistic about the immigration plan, and I believe that the current difficulties will be over soon."< br>
Compared with the existing problems in safety and material supply, the labor gap is undoubtedly the biggest problem currently faced by Zhifu Island Base, and this problem is difficult to solve through Haihan's unilateral efforts. To a certain extent, It still depends on objective conditions. Therefore, regarding this matter, the heads of various departments are not as sure as they are in the military field, and it is difficult to make an accurate estimate of the first batch of immigration results that can be achieved.
When the three arrived at Pier 3 on the southwest side of Zhifu Island, the three immigrant boats returning from the upper reaches of Jiahe River had not yet docked. It is said to be Pier 3. In fact, it is just a name for the location. The terminal facilities and staffing here are still very simple. In addition to two simple wooden trestles extending into the sea and the original cranes on the shore for lifting and unloading heavy materials, There are only a few dozen dock workers temporarily provided by sailors from the Ministry of Shipping and the Navy.
After the first ship docked, the captain who walked down the gangplank to the shore saw three chiefs waiting on the dock. He was very frightened at the moment and didn't know what was going on. Wang Tom had already noticed the dense crowd of heads protruding from the side of the ship, and joked to the other two: "See? This is a boat full of people! This boat can hold more than two hundred people. Even if the crew is excluded, three people There are probably more than 600 people on the boat, I should have guessed more!”
Sun Changmi ignored him, called the captain over and asked: "How many immigrants were brought back this time?"
The captain didn't know what he meant, but he replied honestly: "Commander, the three ships carried a total of 387 immigrants this time..."
"Did you hear that? Three hundred and eighty-seven people!" Sun Changmi proudly showed off to the other two people: "Obviously, only my answer is the closest to the accurate number! Get ready and lead a team to dig out mud in the afternoon. Go! ”
"Wait!" Qian Tiandun stopped the proud Sun Changmi: "I don't think things are that simple!"
Sun Changmi said: "Didn't you hear clearly just now? Then I'll repeat it again, three hundred and eighty-seven people!"
Qian Tiandun smiled and said: "Minister Sun, how many people can this kind of sailing boat carry?"
Sun Changmi said: "Tom also said just now that a boat can carry about two hundred people."
"The people can be loaded in two boats, why do we need to divide them into three boats? Isn't this a waste of transportation capacity?" Qian Tiandun asked with a smile.
Sun Changmi thought it was reasonable. He turned back to the captain and asked: "Two ships carried immigrants, and what did the other ship carry?"
The captain responded: "When we arrived at our destination this morning, we happened to encounter a cavalry company fighting a battle with the local bandit armed forces. The third ship carried the bandit prisoners who were escorted back..."
Now Qian Tiandun couldn't hold it any longer and asked before he could finish his words: "How many prisoners are there?"
"One hundred...more than forty people!" The captain still roughly remembered the number of heads counted by the soldiers when they escorted the prisoners onto the ship.
"With the addition of more than 300 immigrants, the total is over 500!" Qian Tiandun spread his hands and said: "You two, admit it!"
Three hundred and eighty-seven immigrants were loaded on two ships, and it was obviously inconvenient for prisoners of war to be transported on the same ship as the immigrants, so a separate ship was used to transport them. Among the three, Sun Changmi guessed four hundred, Wang Tom guessed six hundred, and only Qian Tiandun's guess of five hundred was the closest. Judging from the previous bet, he indeed won.
Sun Changmi slapped his forehead and said: "I didn't say anything before. Immigration status should be limited! Thinking about it like this, you five hundred people are very clever at guessing! Did you rely on pure luck or calculation?"
"There must be both ingredients!" Qian Tiandun was also very frank, and immediately explained his thoughts to his two companions: "The news came back yesterday that the cavalry battalion requested to send more troops because they believed that Fushan County might There will be hostile forces that will add resistance to our recruitment operations. I was thinking that if our troops had an armed conflict with the other party, we could probably send a group of coolies back and let them soak in the sea and drive piles. If there are prisoners of war, they must be shipped separately. Considering that there are also armed personnel on board, one ship can only escort more than a hundred people. To put it bluntly, I bet that there will be prisoners of war sent back. , if all three boats are full of immigrants, there must be more than 500 people.”
"What if the prisoners of war can't be loaded into one boat?" Sun Changmi still wanted to break the casserole and ask the question.
Qian Tiandun said with a smile: "It's the same thing to load them into two ships! Excluding the sailors and escorts, the two ships can carry about three hundred prisoners of war. If you add one ship of immigrants, there are still about five hundred people."
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"According to your estimate, if the three ships are all prisoners of war and there are no immigrants, I might have won!" Sun Changmi was still a little dissatisfied with Qian Tiandun's good luck.
"The three ships are all prisoners of war, so the warships we sent out will definitely have to come back with them. This is the Navy's rule for escorting prisoners of war, so that if the situation on any ship gets out of control, we can still seize the ship with our firepower advantage. Come back." After Wang Tom explained, he sighed helplessly: "No need to argue, this guy has taken care of all the details!"
When Haihan participated in the Annan Civil War, he organized and transported a large number of South Vietnamese prisoners of war from Annan to Hainan Island to work as coolies. During this period, in order to ensure that the ships transporting prisoners of war would not have accidents at sea, a certain proportion of warships were arranged to escort them. Even if The prisoners of war on the ship rebelled and seized the ship, but they could not escape Haihan's control. Qian Tiandun participated in Annan's civil war from beginning to end, and later performed many combat missions overseas. Naturally, he was very clear about these unwritten rules.
"I'm convinced, you're cruel!" Sun Changmi was convinced now, and he lost his temper after losing.
Arriving in the same boat as these more than 100 prisoners of war, there were also two horses that had undergone simple wound treatment and bandaging. The conditions on the Fushan front line were obviously not suitable for them to recuperate, so they were sent back to Zhifu Island by boat as quickly as possible. If you can get Harugong's careful care here, you will definitely recover much faster. In addition, there were several wounded soldiers who were sent back at the same time. Two of them were stabbed from behind when the bandits were causing trouble. The injuries were relatively serious and they would probably take a long time to recover.
When Qian Tiandun saw the wounded soldiers being carried down on stretchers, his face suddenly darkened, and he immediately asked the perpetrator if he had been captured alive, but the answer he received was that he was shot dead by the soldiers who reacted on the spot. Qian Tiandun was sulking and had nowhere to vent, so he could only kick the prisoners squatting next to him, and then ordered the soldiers to immediately send all of them to the dock construction site on the southeast side of Zhifu Island to work.
(End of chapter)