Chapter 1128 Two Attitudes
The local oil fields in Miaoli have been operating smoothly for several months since their extraction. Since Haihan's current oil processing methods are still crude and the refinery's production capacity is limited, the amount of crude oil extracted is not large. In addition to storing a certain amount of crude oil, the Ministry of Industry uses this oil field more as a place to train oil workers and trial-produce various mining and drilling tools to prepare technology and talents for the future development of truly large oil fields.
After Tian Yeyou directed the completion of the initial drilling and mining phase, there were actually not many things that required him to keep an eye on the site. If it were not for the need to train industrial workers, he would have left Miaoli long ago. Of course, the situation in Shandong is still uncertain. It is useless for Tian Yeyou to come too early and it will only be a waste of time. Therefore, we must wait until the fleet heading north has controlled the local situation before setting off.
However, even if Tian Yeyou comes to Shandong, the development of this copper mine will not be implemented in a short time. Such a large project not only requires the professional skills of the person in charge, but also because it is a typical labor-intensive industry. There is also a large demand for the number of laborers invested in the mine. The manpower currently controlled by the Haihan advance team is probably not enough to allocate the labor force to mine dozens of miles away while building the Zhifu Island base.
Because of this, when Wang Tom heard in Liaodong that there were tens of thousands of Han refugees in Pi Island with nowhere to go, he made up his mind to try to get these people out, and some of them could be put into mining at the Fushan Copper Mine. . Of course, according to Haihan tradition, places like mines are also good places to house prisoners in hard labor camps. In the future, when marching to Liaodong and capturing Houjin prisoners of war, they can also be dumped here, such as high-risk dirty work like going down tunnels. Just let the prisoners of war do it.
The Fushan copper mine is about to be developed, and the Zhifu Island headquarters does not want to get too entangled with the Ming army stationed locally. It wants to tilt its security forces towards the copper mine project first. According to the confessions of the bandits captured some time ago, although most of the main force of the Wanjia Army was destroyed in the battle in Fushan County, there are still military advisor Pu Xueguang and others on the run, and there is a great opportunity to reintegrate the remaining forces of the Wanjia Army. Moreover, the location of the Fushan Copper Mine seems to be very close to Pishankuang, a stronghold of the Wanjia Army. Before the exploration and development of the copper mine, the area near it must be cleared again to ensure that it will not be harassed by bandits.
Although the Ming army at Qishan Qianhusuo is also a potential threat, the Haihan military believes that the possibility of it launching an active offensive is extremely low, and even if it does, it is unlikely to break through the already formed formation on the sandbank in the southern part of Zhifu Island. Line of defense. The headquarters deployed two companies of infantry and more than ten artillery pieces there, plus several deep defense lines composed of barbed wire, trenches, various obstacles and masonry fortifications. Even a cavalry attack would be difficult to defeat in a short period of time. Breakthrough from the outside within time. Coupled with the anti-surveillance mobile sentry deployed by Haihan nearby, it can be said that the threat posed by Qianshan Households is still within Haihan's control, and he is not in a hurry to take some unconventional means to solve it immediately.
The news brought back by Shen Zhixiang was somewhat comforting. Feng Fei, a Qianhu in Qishan Institute, did not stand on the same ground as the generals from Dengzhou. Whether it was because he was short-handed or because he was timid and fearful of fighting, this This is good news for Haihan after all. As for the stubborn Shangguan Ye, since we are still unsure of his origins and background, it is difficult for Haihan to determine the real reason why he insists on confronting Haihan. It will probably have to wait until the people from the Security Department come to the rescue. We won't get further news until we come back from Dengzhou.
Although Shen Zhixiang was dubious about Wang Tom's praise of Haikou, Haihan's financial resources were indeed strong, making it difficult for him to doubt the other party's ability to make money and his methods. However, regarding the assistance Haihan had promised, he still reminded the other party wholeheartedly: "Two adults, do you know when the food to rescue Pi Island will be shipped?"
"You don't have to wait too long, it only takes two or three days. After we arrange the cargo ship, it can be shipped." Qian Tiandun explained to him: "The first batch of materials to aid Pi Island mainly includes 100,000 kilograms of grain and some Commonly used medicinal materials. After these cargo ships arrive at Pi Island, I hope your army can arrange for a group of immigrants to return by ship.”
"Of course, the existing agreement has been made first, and Dongjiang Town will definitely fulfill it." Shen Zhixiang responded very firmly.
Regarding the issue of transferring the refugees on the island to Haihan in the form of immigrants, the senior officials of Dongjiang Town have very unanimous opinions, and they all believe that this is a measure that can actually help reduce the burden on Dongjiang Town. These refugees can only act as a burden on the island, accelerating the consumption of materials on the island, but giving them to the Haihan people as immigrants can exchange for food and other assistance for Dongjiang Town. This type of cooperation, exchanging refugees for aid, would only benefit Dongjiang Town, and Shen Zhixiang could not think of any reason to reject the goodwill of the Haihan people.
Shen Zhixiang has already decided to persuade Shen Shikui to increase cooperation with Haihan after returning to Pidao. After all, such a capable partner who is willing to actively help can't find another partner at the moment. As long as the Haihan people are willing to support Dongjiang Town, a comeback to counterattack Liaodong does not seem to be an unattainable goal.
As for the government in Shandong, Shen Zhixiang no longer has high expectations for them. The ideal situation is to not cause obstacles in the middle. Obviously some people in Shandong are determined to go against Dongjiang Town. Shen Zhixiang is also holding back his anger in his heart. He must use Dongjiang Town's re-emergence to slap these people in the face in the future.
Another day later, a team sent to Dengzhou City to inquire about news finally returned safely. Gong Shiqi, who led the team, immediately reported the results of the trip to Hao Wanqing after returning to the island. After hearing the report, Hao Wanqing felt that some information must be known to the military, and immediately notified Qian Tiandun and Wang Tom to come over for a meeting.
"The situation may be more complicated than we expected, so we asked you to come over and make a summary." Hao Wanqing went directly to the topic concisely: "Gong Shiqi, tell me more about what you found during your trip to Dengzhou this time."
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Gong Shiqi went to Dengzhou to inquire about the news. A group of five people stayed in Dengzhou city for four days under the cover of traveling merchants and hawkers. Although he was not familiar with the situation in Dengzhou City and had no connections that could be used, he used various means to obtain a lot of valuable information. In particular, the command was most concerned about the attitude of the Dengzhou government towards Haihan's arrival, and finally got some specific information.
Gong Shiqi said: "I have made inquiries from various sources and found that Dengzhou officials have two completely different attitudes towards the arrival of our Haihan fleet. To be precise, this difference exists between civil and military officials."
According to his investigation, civil servants from Dengzhou Prefecture to Chen Zhongsheng, the prefect, generally believed that the arrival of the Haihan fleet was a good thing, for three reasons. First, it assisted the government in getting rid of the bandit Wanjiajun, which had been poisoning the local area for many years, and saved the deteriorating local security; second, it provided assistance to the refugees within its jurisdiction, avoiding the danger of civil commotion in Fushan County; third, it reopened the The maritime trade channel with Zhejiang has brought hope for revitalizing the local economy.
These are things that the Dengzhou government has always wanted to do but has been unable to implement. Haihan's appearance has actually solved a lot of troubles for the government, and these are well-documented facts. There are also Fushan County Yamen and Qi There is no doubt about the authenticity of the guarantee made by Shan Qianhu. Although Haihan, as another country, sent people to Ming territory without authorization and established a stronghold. These actions seem to have some problems in diplomatic procedures, but the flaws cannot be concealed, and the government must also recognize Haihan's contribution. The most important thing is that Haihan has shown no hostility to confront the government, and what he has done so far has been good things that people like to hear. It is really difficult to use "invasion" to characterize their arrival. However, the military's opinion is somewhat different. Judging from the information Gong Qiqi heard in Dengzhou, the Dengzhou garrison was wary of Haihan's appearance, and it was not just a few senior officers who held this attitude. , military officers stationed in Dengzhou from other places almost all expressed the same opinion in public, that is, they believed that the emergence of Haihan posed a great threat to the security of Dengzhou. The Haihan army, which was able to use force to attack the local bandit armed forces, could naturally also target the cities and territories of the Ming Dynasty. There was no fundamental difference between the Haihan army coming from afar and the local bandit armed forces who occupied the mountains as kings.
As for the matter of rescuing the people of Fushan County, the military believes that this is only an initial means to win over people's hearts. Once Haihan has established a firm foothold in Fushan County, such measures will probably not be continued for a long time. After all, in the eyes of the government, rescuing refugees is a completely thankless act. The Haihan people are not crazy, so why should they engage in such a loss-making business for a long time?
In the eyes of the military, the idea of opening a maritime trade channel is an attempt by Haihan to cover up the obvious. I don’t know where I got the news. It is said that Haihan made his fortune in the smuggling business in the South. What they call maritime trade is actually maritime smuggling that is prohibited by the Ming Dynasty. Haihan's smuggling business into Shandong was not to help local officials revitalize the economy, but purely for their own personal gain. The army they brought is the best proof of this intention. Which maritime merchants brought an army out to do business? This clearly means that they are ready to fight if they cannot reach an agreement and use violence to solve the problem.
The military believes that Haihan's arrival will not save the local security situation, but will instead make the situation more serious. Judging from the information currently known, the battle between Haihan and Wanjiajun ended in an almost one-sided battle. Their strength far exceeded their opponents. The Dengzhou garrison even struggled to control Wanjiajun, so how could they deal with Haihan? This stronger disruptor? The safest way is to take advantage of the fact that the Haihan people have just arrived and have a weak foothold, and immediately organize a crusade to drive them away from the Shandong coast.
However, fighting costs money. Although the military wants to take action, it will be difficult to carry out large-scale combat operations without local financial and material support. Therefore, the civil and military officials of Dengzhou Prefecture have been arguing over this matter recently, and the news has spread from within the government through various channels, so that the people in the city are also talking about it. Gong Shiqi only needs to identify, filter and categorize the various messages he heard, and he can roughly deduce the current differences of opinion in Dengzhou official circles.
"That's the general situation. Is there anything you two are unclear about?" After Gong Shiqi finished speaking, Hao Wanqing asked Wang Qian for their opinions.
"Do you have any more specific information about the people in the Ming army who are hostile to us? Maybe we can find a deeper reason from this." Wang Tom first asked the question. He did not think that the Dengzhou garrison's hostility towards Haihan was unfounded, especially after Haihan had shown enough goodwill to the Fushan County government and the garrison, the Dengzhou Ming army still believed that Haihan's arrival had bad intentions. Tom Wang believes that this may be the result of someone causing trouble.
Gong Shiqi responded: "The establishment of the original Dengzhou Guards was seriously damaged in the war in the previous two years. Currently, most of the Dengzhou garrison are troops transferred from various parts of Shandong by the Ming Dynasty. Therefore, the foundation of these characters is It is difficult to find out clearly in a short time.”
The question raised by Qian Tiandun is more practical: "How many Ming troops are currently stationed near Dengzhou City?"
Gong Shiqi said: "According to Beizhong's statistics, the size of the garrison should be between five and six thousand. Among them, the Navy is still in the process of reconstruction, with only seven or eight hundred people. Beizhong thinks that because the troops it belongs to are too complex, they want to It is probably not an easy task to integrate them together to carry out combat tasks. I heard locally that there are seven or eight officers at the rank of general in Dengzhou City. Who would listen to these people in a real war? Who directs it is also a troublesome matter.”
Qian Tiandun nodded and said: "Speaking of this, Shen Zhixiang also mentioned that Shangguan Ye, who was stationed in Qishan Qianhu Station in Dengzhou City, was also a staff general. It seems that the local senior officers are indeed seriously overstaffed."
Wang Tom laughed and said: "A general with only a few hundred people under his command is an underqualified man! It's nothing to worry about!"
Qian Tiandun and Hao Wanqing both laughed knowingly. Gong Shiqi didn't understand what "undermatching" meant, but he could also see that the leaders were not nervous about the current situation, so he probably had an idea.
All kidding aside, there are thousands of Ming troops stationed in Dengzhou City who are hostile to Haihan. Even if there is no war, they are still a threat that cannot be ignored. Either they have to find a way to defuse the other party's hostility, or they have to use more radical means to completely resolve this threat. The military will eventually have to come up with a response plan.
Qian Tiandun said: "The intelligence collected so far is still very limited, and we can't judge what the other party's considerations are for opposing us. We can only take preventive measures now, send more troops out, and strengthen Water and land surveillance in the direction of Dengzhou City ”
(End of chapter)