Chapter 1222 The Current Situation of Star Island
Different from the other stops on the way south, the reception banquet held for Tan Juren and his entourage was held in the officers' mess in the garrison camp, rather than in a high-end restaurant or private residence. The reason is also very simple. There are no high-end shopping places here, and Roger's residence has nothing to do with the word "official residence". When he first arrived here, he lived in a prefabricated house brought from Sanya. , and later built a separate courtyard and replaced it with a small bungalow with a masonry structure, and that was it.
This is not because Roger is willing to be poor. In fact, the objective conditions here are not enough to talk about material enjoyment. Because of the shortage of labor and the limited number of engineering and technical personnel, it is also necessary to build docks, roads, bridges, immigrant villages, water supply and drainage facilities and other infrastructure projects. As priority, other construction projects can only be put in the back row. Even the garrison troops who have arrived here for more than a year are still living in wooden barracks. Roger's living conditions are considered to be of the highest level locally, but compared to the leaders of other colonies, such treatment is indeed a bit shabby.
If they were just entertaining Tan Juren alone, then Roger's residence would be able to accommodate a table. However, the reception banquet would not only involve the two of them, but their respective generals would also be present to accompany them, so the only military canteen in the camp was more convenient. .
Although the environment is not as good as the high-end places in Ambon Island, fortunately, the chef is also an apprentice who has received hands-on training from Chef Fan in Sanya Victory Fort, and his skills are not bad. Moreover, this place is close to the coast, and the seafood is really fresh, so the delicious food is no less delicious than the banquets Tan Juren enjoyed at the previous stops.
At this reception banquet, everyone was drinking and drinking, and naturally it was not suitable for talking about serious matters, so Tan Juren randomly picked some interesting things on the way south as conversation topics. When talking about the hunting experience on Ambon Island, Roger said smoothly: "If Director Tan likes hunting, it will be easy. I will take you to the north to hunt another day when I have time. There are not so many restrictions here. You can hit whatever you want!”
The northern part of Star Island is still an undeveloped uninhabited land, covering an area of hundreds of square kilometers, with mountains and water. The geographical environment is almost the same as the wildlife area on Ampurna Island, except that there are not so many types of animals. . Every month or so, Roger would organize his men to conduct live-fire drills in the wilderness in the north of the island. After that, he would stop by for a round of hunting, so that the soldiers could maintain the state required for collective operations for a long time. Roger was naturally indifferent to the kind of commercial hunting on Ampurna Island. In Zhang Yun's place, one could not be killed, and the other had to be protected. How could hunting be as comfortable and enjoyable as possible here?
Tan Juren actually didn't have much interest in hunting. The reason why he went there was more to see his friends. However, since Roger took the initiative to invite and show his kindness, he naturally would not refuse the kindness and immediately agreed with a smile. Now that he has just arrived, the most important thing is to establish a good relationship with Roger, who has been in charge of the local military and political power for more than a year. Next, he will take over the local administrative affairs, and there are many details that must be handled with Roger's help.
However, Tan Juren did not forget about business. At the end of the reception banquet, he took the initiative to mention that he hoped that the new Sheriff Han Zhengshan would go to the military camp to receive a short-term firearms training so that he could start relevant work as soon as possible after taking office. For Roger, this was just a matter of words, and he immediately gave the order to his adjutant to contact Han Zhengshan to arrange the training schedule.
The residence Roger prepared for Tan Juren was of the same level as his own residence. It was also a separate courtyard. The furniture and other daily facilities were fully prepared, and it could be said that it had reached the standard of move-in. Tan Juren had visited Roger's residence before, so he had no complaints about such treatment.
After washing and lying down on the bed, Tan Juren was quite emotional when he thought about his experience on the journey south. In the past, my understanding of overseas colonies was mostly on paper, only mentioned in the exchanges of documents, and I did not have an intuitive feeling. This time I took an overseas mission and traveled all the way, and finally got a personal experience. It goes without saying that Haihan is becoming increasingly powerful. Being able to open a colony thousands of miles away from the mainland is itself a symbol of national strength. Each colony has chosen different development directions depending on its own environment. , and also gave him a lot of feelings.
Da Nang and Quy Nhon Port are relatively pure commercial ports, and their development direction is mainly maritime trade; while Cam Ranh Port is a military-civilian integration, mainly for military purposes, and the local development direction is to meet the needs of the garrison; Vung Tau Port It is the most important sea outlet at the southern tip of Indochina, and is also the junction of Annan and Champa. It has a unique geographical location. Although it is not prosperous yet, it has huge development potential; and Ampurna Island is located in the hinterland of the South China Sea. It will be regarded as a center for gathering powerful and political figures from various countries in the South China Sea and collecting military and political intelligence. It will invest the most in the local area, and the future will naturally be bright.
Each of these colonies has its own advantages and different development directions. The experience of these visits also made Tan Juren start to think about the advantages and the best development direction of Xingdao.
The plan of the Executive Committee is to build Xingdao into the southwestern frontier bridgehead of Haihan Kingdom for a period of time in the future. In principle, the function here should be viewed as a strategic military location. This has to be said to be a very pragmatic choice. In this era, the number of merchant ships traveling between the Pacific and Indian Oceans is far less than the time and space they used to be in. If we want to build Star Island into a regional trade hub port like Singapore, the current East-West maritime trade volume is still difficult to meet development needs.
Before Haihan entered this area, the Portuguese had the greatest influence in the Strait of Malacca. About 200 kilometers northwest of Star Island, on the coast, was the city of Malacca that the Portuguese occupied after driving away the original indigenous people. Portuguese merchant ships traveling between the two oceans would naturally give priority to their own ports. The Dutch really wanted to intervene in this area, but unfortunately they were driven out by the Portuguese every time they tried. Therefore, the Dutch merchant ships traveling between the two oceans did not pass through the Strait of Malacca at all, but chose to go closer to the city of Batavia. of the Sunda Strait. Therefore, it is unlikely that merchant ships from these two countries operating in the Far East will use Xingdao as one of their must-stop ports.
The countries in the Malacca Strait area currently regard Haihan as a new external threat. Even if they do not publicly break their faces, it is inevitable to be secretly wary. Naturally, no ships will come to Star Island to dock. .
There are not many foreign merchant ships that may actually use this place as an entrepot trade port at this stage. Basically, they are from Daming and countries in the Indian Ocean. It will be difficult to develop to the scale of Hainan Island or Daming coastal trade ports in the short term. Moreover, the existing local population size and demand also determine that the current development direction of Xingdao cannot be positioned as a trading port. First carry out agricultural development, try to feed the existing permanent population, and be as self-sufficient as possible in the supply of materials other than armaments. This is the more practical development goal of Xingdao in the near future.
But so far, Tan Juren’s understanding of Xingdao comes mostly from paper information, and his actual contact is limited to just a few glances after landing today, which is far from enough to be used for planning. long-term development. Tan Juren himself knew this very well, so he was not in a hurry to think about long-term things and how to perform his duties. He would wait until he conducted an on-site inspection of the local area.
The next day, Roger showed up in person and took Tan Juren to inspect the current situation of Xingdao. This inspection trip once again returned to the place where Tan Juren landed yesterday. After all, this is a coastal colony, and the importance of the port to this place is self-evident.
"This place was called Keppel Harbor in our previous time and space, and it was the most important port at the southern tip of Singapore. The two islands in the south, a small one and a large one, were originally named Brani Island and Sentosa Island, but now these two The islands have been allocated to the navy and have not been named yet." Roger paused and said proudly: "According to the executive committee's naming principles for new places, we can apply to order these two with our own names. Island.”
Tan Juren said: "According to the naming of the Ming Dynasty, shouldn't this place be called Temasek?" "Temasek refers to the entire Star Island, but the small affiliated islands can still be named by themselves. This is a good opportunity to go down in history!" Roger said Here, Chao Tan Juren winked and said: "Juren Island, Juren Island, can be considered a good fortune!"
Tan Juren couldn't laugh or cry and said: "People here don't know how to take the Ming Dynasty's imperial examination, so what's the point of calling Juren Island!"
The place name Temasek only started to be called in the Ming Dynasty. However, as early as the beginning of the 14th century, the Yuan Dynasty sent people to a place called "Dragon Tooth Gate" to look for elephants. In Wang Dayuan's "Daoyi Zhilue", " The description of "Dragon Tooth Gate" is that "the gate is made of Temasek and Fan, intersecting like a dragon's tooth, with a water channel in between." In fact, this dragon's tooth refers to a large entrance and exit of the channel on the west side of the star port that allows navigators to identify their directions. Pointed stone.
This book "Dao Yi Zhi Lue" written by the Yuan Dynasty also attracted much attention in the Ming Dynasty. It was included in "Yongle Dadian" and "Sikuquanshu". Even when Zheng He went to the West, this book was One of the references for the fleet.
"Zheng He's fleet docked here. We also found some living utensils left behind by the fleet and stone tablets buried in the highlands." Roger continued to introduce the local culture to Tan Juren without showing off. History: "Two hundred years ago, this place was once a port city, and many Han people lived here."
"Then why did it become depressed later?" Tan Juren only knew that this place had become a buffer zone for the war between the surrounding countries when Haihan arrived. There was not much permanent population and it had long been turned into a desert island, but it did not I understand very well how this place suddenly declined.
"This place was originally the territory of the Malacca Sultanate. However, this regime was destroyed by the Portuguese more than 20 years ago. The Johor Sultanate in the north of Star Island is now a regime re-established by the fugitive nobles. The Portuguese took over the island in 1613 All the towns on the island were burned down, so the island has been basically in a no-man's land since then." Roger patiently explained to Tan Juren: "There was no one here when we came, so it didn't take any effort. Just take it.”
"The Portuguese are quite ruthless in doing things!" Tan Juren couldn't help but sigh after hearing this. Obviously the Portuguese had the ability to capture this place at that time, but they had already occupied the city of Malacca in the northwest. Naturally, they were not that concerned about the small port on Star Island. In addition, the population was limited and they could not allocate enough manpower to attack this place. To implement a long-term occupation, they simply set fire to all the facilities on the island so that no one can gain a foothold here.
"I used to be very ruthless, but now... I'm very cowardly!" Roger gave an unceremonious comment: "After we arrived, the Portuguese also sent a boat to circle around, and when they saw the flag we planted, they were so scared. Put one down, turn around and leave.”
Tan Juren laughed a few times in appreciation, and then asked with concern: "Are there any forces nearby that are obviously hostile to us now?"
"It's not that we are hostile, but there are quite a few countries that are wary of us...basically all the countries around us are on this list." When talking about this topic, Roger's expression became less relaxed: "Although they are not Dare to openly oppose us, but there are still many means available to slow down our development. You see, we have been here for more than a year, and the population is still pitifully small. We can recruit from surrounding countries. The number of immigrants arriving is extremely limited, and there is some artificial resistance here.”
Haihan’s expansion model has extremely high requirements for infrastructure construction, which in turn brings a corresponding demand for labor. However, overseas enclaves like Xingdao, which are thousands of miles away from Hainan Island, almost entirely rely on immigrants sent from the country. When it comes to development and construction, the speed is naturally not much faster.
Roger continued: "Of course, in our current situation, we cannot take the initiative to go to war with the surrounding countries and rely on force to plunder the population. The Executive Committee still hopes to gradually soften the surrounding countries with interests through commercial organizations such as the South China Sea Trade Alliance. The attitude of the country, after all, the market is also very important to us.”
"Is there any significant progress in this regard?" Tan Juren asked hopefully.
"No!" Roger shook his head without thinking and said: "So far, I haven't seen any signs of softening of attitude, and diplomacy is not an area I am good at. So I have been reporting to the Executive Committee since last year. , requesting to send a partner who is responsible for administrative and diplomatic affairs.”
At this point, Roger raised his hand and patted Tan Juren on the shoulder and said: "From now on, you will be responsible for these things. If you need my cooperation and assistance, you can just ask it. As long as I can, I will definitely give it to you." Give me a hand.”
(End of chapter)