Chapter 1124 Costs and Benefits
Ge Yong responded: "Hundreds of thousands of catties of grain and thousands of pieces of cotton cloth are not worth the expense. Our country of Haihan is rich in products, so it is not a problem to support these refugees. All the food is produced by Haihan itself, and only cotton cloth and medicinal materials are produced. It is purchased in Zhejiang, but it is not a big expense for our country.”
Shen Zhixiang said: "Then you sent such a huge fleet to Shandong to build a port and build a garrison there. You also have to fight against gold thieves and rescue the people of Liaodong. Aren't these expenses included in the calculation?"
Ge Yong shook his head and said: "I'm afraid General Xiao Shen's statement is a little false. We don't calculate costs and returns like this."
Through these two days of contact, Shen Zhixiang can naturally feel the shrewdness revealed by Haihan people at every turn. It seems that this group of people will calculate the pros and cons before doing anything. With such a large-scale introduction of tens of thousands of immigrants, Shen Zhixiang believes that Haihan must have calculated the costs and benefits beforehand, but he believes that the cost of immigration can be made up through settlement. Not a good deal. Just to maintain the stationing of these refugees, armed personnel and warships in Zhifu Bay, I am afraid that it will cost several thousand taels of silver a day. How much farmland will be cultivated and how many years of farming will be needed to make up for these expenses through taxes.
Shen Zhixiang's question is actually on point. If all the expenses of Haihan's operations in the north are included in the immigration costs, then the cost of a single immigrant is indeed astonishingly high. Calculated, it will definitely be much higher than Haihan's in the southeastern coast and central and southern China. The cost of recruiting immigrants in the peninsula, and even spending money to purchase slaves from Dutch and Portuguese human traffickers, is less than the amount calculated in this way.
However, Haihan's actions in Shandong and Liaodong were not just to recruit immigrants. Only part of the expenses were spent on immigrants. Military expenses and other construction and activity expenses were all allocated to immigration projects. Such an algorithm is definitely not correct. reasonable. Moreover, Haihan already has a relatively mature operating routine on how to earn profits by controlling sea lanes. He has clear expectations on when profits will be generated and how to recover costs as soon as possible. Naturally, he will not be stingy in the early investment.
The operations in between are too complicated for outsiders, and many of the measures are Haihan's secrets and cannot be easily leaked to outsiders. Naturally, Ge Yong cannot explain them in detail to Shen Zhixiang and Pan Yan, so he can only make a haha Get over this topic as soon as possible.
"We plan to transport 3,000 to 5,000 people from Zhifu Bay before winter this year." Ge Yong continued: "Soon, special passenger sailing ships will come from Zhejiang to transport the immigrants here in batches to the south. Resettlement. In some places on the southeast coast, we have begun to organize the construction of immigrant villages so that these people can settle down as soon as possible after they arrive. ”
Pan Yan asked: "After they arrived in the south, their living environment and conditions were the same as here?"
"It will be better than here." Ge Yong said about the south, with a bit more pride in his tone: "Our country of Haihan is known as a paradise in the south, where the country is peaceful and the people are safe. All the countries in the South China Sea are proud to immigrate to Haihan. If you two If you have the chance, go to the south and see for yourself.”
Shen Zhixiang naturally had no fault with the immigrant camp on Zhifu Island. Compared with the harsh refugee camp-like environment on Phi Island, these people who were about to immigrate to the south were already very lucky. However, he still didn't quite believe it when he heard that Ge Yong praised the Haihan Kingdom so well. He shook his head slightly and questioned: "A country with a vast land and a sparse population, the land is cheap at most, and the citizens are imported from many countries, how can Can you become stronger?”
Ge Yong couldn't help but feel a little angry when he heard this. He was actually a Mingren before joining Haihan, but now he has long regarded himself as a Haihan citizen. When he heard these words, he couldn't help but retort: "I, Haihan, The country's influence in the coastal areas south of the Yangtze River and the South China Sea is much greater than Dongjiang Town's influence in Liaodong! Does Dongjiang Town have the strength to send a fleet like this to Lingnan and Guangdong? "
These words cut to the heart of Dongjiang Town. A few years ago, it was an armed force that no one could ignore in Northeast Asia, but now it is a destitute person who cannot protect itself and needs to be rescued by Haihan. Not to mention Pidao sending such a fleet to expedition to Lingnan, even the Changshan Islands and Lushunkou do not have enough maritime armed forces to retrieve it at the moment, and their strength is far inferior to Haihan.
When the other party pointed out his shortcomings, a look of embarrassment suddenly appeared on Shen Zhixiang's face. If others dared to be so disrespectful, he would have kicked him away. But now that he was asking for help, he did not dare to turn his face immediately. Before setting off, Shen Shikui specifically told him that he must get Haihan's assistance as a prerequisite. As long as other matters were not matters of principle, he could just turn a blind eye and compromise, and try not to have any disputes with Haihan. After Shen Zhixiang came to Zhifu Island to see it, he certainly realized that Haihan’s promised assistance to Dongjiang Town should not be empty words,
"Ge Yong, don't speak so arrogantly. Our friends in Dongjiang Town just don't know much about our country, Haihan, and they don't mean any harm." Xie Li, as a military representative, quickly smoothed things over. His mission is to take Shen and Pan around the island and let them initially realize Haihan's strength through personal visits. However, it will be difficult for him to destroy the current cooperative atmosphere due to a dispute of words. Reported to headquarters.
Ge Yong actually realized that he was too angry as soon as he spoke, and immediately apologized to Shen Zhixiang. The order he received was to make the envoy from Dongjiang Town admire Haihan's achievements and trust Haihan's conditions for assistance. If this made the other party angry, it might ruin the headquarters' plans.
This page was temporarily revealed, and Ge Yong continued to take them to visit the immigrant camp. Pan Yan suddenly asked: "Why are there no old, weak, women and children in this camp? Could it be that your country only accepts young and strong people?"
After being reminded by him, Shen Zhixiang also noticed that all the people he saw were young and strong men. Such a population ratio was definitely unreasonable.
Ge Yong explained: "For the sake of public security in the camp, we separated women and children into separate camps. After arriving in the south, we will arrange for the families to live together again."
Haihan's arrangement also comes from the lessons learned during the Annan immigration operation in the early years. If people are mixed and placed together regardless of age and gender, there will always be some people who bully the weak and use violence to occupy more public resources. Although separate camps for women and children may seem unhumane, and it still cannot completely eliminate this situation, but the overall situation is important, it can at least improve the survival rate of vulnerable groups, and the incidence of security incidents in the camp has also been greatly reduced.
Several people were watching and walking when Shen Zhixiang suddenly stopped and said: "I seem to hear the sound of poetry and books being read!"
"General Shen heard that right, in front of us is the literacy school we set up for children." Ge Yong explained: "We arrange literacy and general knowledge classes for the children in the camp every day, and there are also some adults who are off work to attend the classes. .”
"You even hired a private school teacher! You're so thoughtful!" Shen Zhixiang himself is proficient in writing and knows the role of reading and literacy. Haihan did not forget these details when rescuing refugees. It can be seen that the other party is indeed interested in the immigration matter. Things are quite heartwarming.
While I was talking, I had already arrived at this temporary school. It looked like a simple bamboo shed. There were several rows of long tables and benches underneath, with thirty or forty children sitting there. There was a blackboard in front of it, and a gentleman was sitting there. Teach these children word by word to read the thousand-character essay written on the blackboard. As expected, there were several adults sitting on the floor outside the school, chanting along with the teacher.
Shen Zhixiang saw that there was a large kitchen next to the school, with several earthen stoves and large pots set up, and some people were busy preparing meals. He couldn't help but curiously asked: "There are so many children, and there is a special cover for it." Is there a kitchen to cook for them?” , and lent it to the children as a school.”
"That's it." Shen Zhixiang finally understood.
"School will be over soon. How about you two having a casual meal here at noon?" Xie Li took the initiative to invite. At present, several chiefs on the island are very busy, and no one has time to come out to greet Shen Zhixiang, so he can only do it for him. However, there was no order from above to host a banquet, and Xie Li did not dare to overstep his authority and make decisions on his own, so the meal could only be arranged simply.
Shen Zhixiang didn't care. Xie Li also said that this was a place for officers to eat, and the treatment was reasonable. He didn't expect the Haihan people to hold a banquet for him in the refugee camp. Thinking about such a scene, he thought it was ridiculous. Pan Yan was even more okay with it. His request was very simple. Don't deduct food rations like Hou Jin, as long as you have enough food.
While Pan and Chen were dining in the officers' mess, the meeting between Wang Tom and others was still going on, but the issues had moved from Dongjiang Town to the local area. While Wang Tom led the fleet northward, there were also some small and medium-sized people in Fushan County. things happen.
"A few days ago, a group of people came from Dengzhou, about two to three hundred people. Instead of entering the county, they took a detour to Qishan Qianhusuo." Qian Tiandun explained to Wang Tom: "We asked the county magistrate Zhang Pucheng After asking around, he said that people who come to Dengzhou City usually go to the county town first and ask for some supplies. Logically speaking, they will not go around the city. "
Wang Tom is also a smart man. Hearing this, he continued: "Does that mean you deliberately avoid our control area?"
Qian Tiandun nodded and said: "According to Zhang Pucheng, he had a good talk with the prefect Chen Zhongsheng in Dengzhou last time, and there was no intention to embarrass us. But the military seemed a little uncomfortable with our appearance. I’m too cold, so I’m wondering if the Ming army that came to Qishansuo this time is related to us.”
Tom Wang then asked: "Has Feng Qianhu from Qishan Institute had any contact with us recently?"
"No." Qian Tiandun shook his head and said: "Feng Fei has not sent anyone to contact us since this team arrived at Qishan Station, but the piers on Yantai Mountain have resumed garrison duty."
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Haihan's first action after entering Zhifu Bay was to pull out the Ming army post on Yantai Mountain led by Gao Qiaonan. Regarding the disappearance of these Ming troops, Qishan Institute naturally believed that Haihan was extremely suspicious, but because there was no evidence, there was no way to challenge Haihan. Later, Qianhu Feng Fei accepted Haihan's benefits and naturally turned this major matter into a trivial matter. Haihan also made it clear that he did not want the Doming Army to be stationed on the Yantai Mountain pier to avoid unnecessary misunderstandings. Therefore, some time ago, the Yantai Mountain pier had been empty. The restoration of duty now can also be seen as a transformation of the Ming army's attitude.
Of course, as generals, Wang Tom and Qian Tiandun would look at this problem more fundamentally. Wang Tom said immediately: "Does that mean they intend to monitor us?"
"I think that's what it means." Qian Tiandun nodded and replied: "I think there are people in Dengzhou City who are not confident about our existence, so they consciously want to strengthen monitoring of Zhifu Bay. But fortunately so far , no obvious hostile intentions towards us have been found yet.”
"Old Hao, what news do you have here?" Wang Tom asked Hao Wanqing.
Hao Wanqing said: "I have asked Gong Shiqi to lead a team to Dengzhou City, hoping to find some useful clues there. However, it is more difficult to deal with Qishan Qianhusuo. There are too few floating people here and there are no faces. It is easy to be noticed when sent to Qishansuo City, so for the time being, we can only increase the surveillance on the periphery.”
Wang Tom said: "If you want to send someone to Qishansuo City, I have an excellent candidate."
"I know who you are talking about, this is not okay, it is against the rules!" Hao Wanqing immediately raised his hand to refuse: "In principle, we do not consider using non-Hai and Han personnel to participate in such tasks. This is written into the work regulations of the Ministry of Security! ”
"You also said that it is in principle. Regulations are dead but people are alive. We can make adjustments according to the actual situation! Besides, if you want to find someone who can enter Qishansuo City without being suspected, who better than him? Is there a more suitable candidate?" Wang Tom continued to persuade: "You just need to send someone to pretend to be a follower and follow him."
"So who is the candidate you are talking about?" Sun Changmi was confused and couldn't help but interrupt and asked.
Tom Wang glanced at him and said with a smile: "Who else can it be? Of course it's Shen Zhixiang who followed me back this time."
"This... is a good candidate!" Sun Changmi was stunned for a moment, then came to his senses.
Shen Zhixiang is the general of Dongjiang Town and a genuine Ming army officer. He returned to Dengzhou in the name of raising food and visited various Qianhu offices. This is also a very reasonable excuse. Of course, whether Shen Zhixiang is willing to cooperate with Haihan to do such a thing is another matter.
(End of chapter)