Chapter 1417 New Colony
When Liu Shang was in Sanya, he had taken the time to study the history of Haihan's fortune. He had a much deeper understanding of this country than his colleagues who stayed in the Ming Dynasty. He knew that Haihan's external military methods were only to attack opponents. It is just a tool to capture the land, and the process of actually turning the captured land into your own is mainly completed through a steady stream of immigration activities. Removing the indigenous people, bringing in people from other places, and then establishing a local governing body were the tactics that Haihan would use in almost every overseas colony.
The effect of this set of measures is of course obvious. In the many areas Haihan has occupied along the coast over the past few years, there has never been a major recurrence in any of them. Haihan's newly occupied territory in Liaodong, as well as the southern area of Jinzhou that will be conquered by troops later, obviously intends to operate according to old practices.
Liu Shang had personally experienced Haihan's strong organizational and maritime transportation capabilities, and would not be too surprised by plans to transport thousands of people to Lushun in the short term. He believed that as long as Haihan was willing, it would be possible to plunder tens of thousands of people from the Denglai area and forcibly move them to Liaodong. Of course, doing so may cause chaos in Denglai, which is certainly not a scene that Haihan, who needs Shandong to maintain peace, wants to see.
Liu Shang could not yet guess what specific plans Haihan senior officials had for Lushun. However, with Lushunkou as a natural port, Liu Shang believed that it would be easy to build this place into a commercial port or a military port in the future. When he landed the day before yesterday, he carefully observed the situation of Port Arthur. The geographical conditions of this port are far better than the ports operated by Haihan in Shandong, Zhejiang and other places. It would be a waste of money to leave it in the hands of Hou Jin. Now it is occupied by Haihan. It's time to really make use of this place. Of course, everything can only be implemented after there is enough labor here.
The efficiency of the civil affairs and shipping departments was higher than Liu Shang imagined. Two days later, the first batch of immigrants from Shandong arrived at Port Arthur by boat. These more than 700 immigrants were divided into four immigration ships, along with four Yugong-class cargo ships and an exploration-class warship that transported supplies and food.
Although Liu Shang and Qin Wei are not from the civil affairs department, their propaganda expertise needs to be put to use at this time. Liu Shang had many interactions with immigrants when he was in Hainan Island, and he did the same when he was later transferred to Shandong. As soon as the new immigrants arrived in Liaodong, the work of the propaganda organization was naturally handed over to him again.
Fortunately, these immigrants had already spent some time in the Haihan Immigration Camp before coming to Liaodong, received relevant publicity and education, and were informed of the conditions at their destination in advance, so the burden on Liu Shang's shoulders was much lighter. , there is no need to waste any more time explaining to these immigrants why they were sent here to settle.
In fact, only about half of the immigrants sent to Liaodong were real Shandong people. Some of the other half were immigrants recruited in Zhejiang and Jiangsu, and the remaining part were all people from Liaodong. Almost all of these Liaodong Han people crossed the sea and fled to the south during the invasion of Hou Jin Dynasty. During this period, they took refuge under the Haihan flag through various channels. If Haihan wanted to build a colonial area in the Liaodong Peninsula, he naturally needed to select a group of immigrants who were familiar with the local conditions as the backbone.
In order to address the immigrants' safety concerns about the arrangement of returning to Liaodong, a special item was added to their propaganda content, which is to popularize the glorious record of the special operations battalion of the main force currently guarding Lushun, especially after the heavy losses here last year. The battle of Jin Shoujun is a top priority, letting the people know that the army guarding them here is Haihan's strongest ace army, so as to gain a sufficient sense of security.
However, the garrison barracks in Port Arthur Fort have not yet been completed, and these new immigrants naturally have no ready-made residence. They can only live in tents set up first, and then the officials will organize the construction of houses. There are large forests near Lushun Fort, and several brick kilns built outside Lushun Fort have been under construction for a few days. The materials required for building houses are not a problem at all, just waiting for the labor force to be in place.
Of course, all the current construction plans are just small wooden stakes nailed horizontally and vertically in the snow. It will take at least a month or two to turn the outside of Lushun Fort into a vibrant coastal town. .
In areas managed by the military, there is never any sloppiness in project arrangements. On the second day after the immigrants arrived in Lushun, the engineering staff organized them to start construction in the planned area outside Lushun Fort. Although most of these immigrants had not learned to be carpenters or plasterers, there was no technical difficulty in using them as laborers to dig earth and move building materials.
Although snowflakes still fall from the sky from time to time, the project of building residential areas is carried out quickly under the official organization. The old, weak, women and children are assigned to help in the logistics department, while all men between the ages of fifteen and fifty are assigned to the construction site. Participate in the work. Of course, the labor they put in was not completely unrewarded. In fact, as the first immigrants to come here as pioneers of the Liaodong colony, the official gave them extremely generous promises. In addition to immediately obtaining Haihan nationality, they would also be paid according to their labor force. Each head received fifty acres of land. Even those families without strong labor will be given no less than thirty acres of land to each family for their future livelihood needs. This is a temptation that is difficult to resist for the immigrants who came to Haihan because of poverty.
Four days after the first batch of immigrants arrived in Lushun, the second batch of more than 500 immigrants also arrived by boat. This group of people also came from Shandong, but considering the maritime transportation capacity and the resettlement capacity of Lushun, they were transported in two batches. The arrival of this group of people allowed the local area to finally free up part of its labor force and start building barracks for the garrison in Lushun Fort.
But the arrival of more than a thousand immigrants is just the beginning of the subsequent surge in the local population. On January 30, 1,500 Han immigrants sent from Pidao also successfully arrived at Port Arthur. They were personally escorted by Ming Dynasty General Shen Zhixiang, currently the second-in-command of Pidao.
Shen Zhixiang can be regarded as an acquaintance of Haihan. After Haihan and Pidao agreed to cooperate the year before last, Shen Zhixiang stationed at the Zhifu Island base as a representative of Pidao. He was also very familiar with the senior officials of the Haihan garrison. The winter before last He even went to Zhoushan, Zhejiang Province with the Northern Fleet that went south for the winter, and received military training there for a winter.
After Shen Zhixiang saw the scale of Haihan Navy's Northern Fleet and East China Sea Fleet in Zhoushan, as well as its influence in Jiangsu and Zhejiang, he quickly became a loyal supporter of Haihan. If the Haihan military had not asked Pi Dao to retain the Ming Dynasty's establishment in order to carry out operations, Shen Zhixiang would have taken the initiative to instigate his uncle Shen Shikui, or give up his military position and defect to Haihan directly.
Haihan's achievements in Liaodong were finally given to Pi Dao, and Shen's uncle and nephew reported their merits to the Ming Dynasty. The thousands of Houjin heads sent to Shandong Dusi in succession finally bought Shen Zhixiang a position as a general. Of course, it is difficult to say whether the Shandong Dusi and the Ministry of War offered this benefit as a reward for merit, or as a way to contain Haihan, who was already on the line with Pi Dao.
However, Haihan didn't mind this at all. The senior military officials even wished that the official position of Shen's uncle and nephew could be climbed higher to facilitate future operations. The foundation of these two people is in Pidao. If they leave this place and are transferred back to the Ming Dynasty, it can be said that they are not even shit. If Pidao wants to maintain it for a long time, it cannot rely on the Ming Dynasty. Just hug Haihan's thick legs. Although there are tens of thousands of people on Pi Island, this place does not have the conditions for large-scale agricultural farming. Therefore, the excess population can only be gradually transferred to Haihan, and then in exchange for Haihan's supplies and armaments. Aid support. However, Shen's uncle and nephew also understand that the population of Phi Island is limited after all. Although some Han people can be brought out from the northeastern region every now and then, the inflow is not as fast as the outflow. After all, resources will be exhausted by exporting immigrants alone. One day. But before that, you must think about your future direction and livelihood, otherwise what conditions can you come up with to discuss cooperation with Haihan.
Shen Zhixiang went to Zhejiang and met with many senior officials of Haihan. He gradually understood why Haihan needed the Pidao Ming Army to retain the Ming Dynasty's establishment. Haihan wanted to march into Liaodong, but he didn't want to cause any conflict with Ming Dynasty, so he needed a more high-sounding name to do it, such as attacking Liaodong in the name of the Ming army.
Regarding the arrangements for the spring offensive, the Zhifu Island Command has already informed Pidao after the Battle of Lushun, so Shen Zhixiang is also relatively aware of the role Pidao needs to play in the changes in the situation in Liaodong. If the Ming army attacks Liaodong and recaptures the land in southern Jinzhou, it will naturally be a great achievement for Pidao, and Haihan's actual control of the local area can also be concealed to a certain extent, and will not be exposed to the court. The big shots used excuses like "invasion".
Although such a cover-up cannot be hidden from the people in the court, the Ming Dynasty is currently in the midst of internal and external troubles, and it really cannot afford to provoke enemies like Haihan. As long as the situation in Liaodong is justified on the surface, I believe the court will He consciously pretended to be deaf to Pi Dao and Haihan's little moves.
Taking a step back, if Haihan had captured a large area of land in Liaodong, it would be better to just give a piece of it to Pidao so that the Ming army commanded by Shen's uncle and nephew could move back to the mainland and settle down. It's much better to live a rough life on Phi Island. Therefore, Shen's uncle and nephew also have the same attitude towards assisting Haihan in launching the spring offensive. That is to seize this rare opportunity and fight for Haihan more to see if Pidao's situation can be improved this year. There is a fundamental change.
It was with this attitude that when Pi Dao sent the immigrants to Lushun, Shen Zhixiang followed him in person. The first is to understand the progress and arrangements of Haihan's preparations, and the second is to find an opportunity to test the attitude of Haihan's senior management to see if the other party is willing to give Pi Dao some more practical benefits.
Morgan did not go to the port to welcome Shen Zhixiang's arrival, but when Shen Zhixiang entered Lushun Fort, Morgan received him immediately. The two had dealt with each other before on Zhifu Island, and they exchanged pleasantries after meeting.
Shen Zhixiang is no stranger to Morgan's current residence, and he even took the initiative to explain the origin of this place to Morgan: "This place used to be the residence of Qianhu Zuo in Jinzhou Wei Zhong. The house where your Excellency lives is Qianhu. There were many buildings in this city, but they seemed to have been demolished after Hou Jin occupied this place.”
Morgan actually knew that this place used to be an armed stronghold belonging to the Ming Dynasty. Hearing this, he nodded and said, "General Shen should have been to this place before, right?"
"Before the fall of Jinzhou, I came here with my uncle several times." Shen Zhixiang frowned slightly, remembering that he came here with his uncle Shen Shikui on business. At that time, Shen Shikui had just abandoned business and joined the army, and he himself was Shen Shikui's personal soldier. Serve around. But now this place has returned to Haihan, and its name has been changed to Lushun Fort. If there are no major changes, it is estimated that it will be difficult for this place to return to the hands of the Ming Dynasty in the future.
But Shen Zhixiang doesn't have too many regrets about this. His sense of belonging to the Ming Dynasty has become less and less in recent years, and now he relies on Haihan to earn a living. In his opinion, this place belongs to Haihan, and always It is much better than letting Houjin Manzi take control. At least Haihan would naturalize the Han people, and it would be no problem to live and work here in peace and contentment in the future. However, Jin Manzi only treated the Han people as slaves and did his best to oppress them.
Morgan then added: "We gave you a rough outline of the battle plan after the spring when you came to Zhifu Island last time. When Pidao sends troops to join the operation, there should be no problem, right?"
Shen Zhixiang responded: "General, I have already discussed this matter with my uncle. A battalion of elite soldiers will be transferred from Pidao for your army to command. Pidao will also try its best to organize the transport ships needed by your army."
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The organization of Pidao had actually become very chaotic due to various historical reasons before Haihan's arrival. It was not until Haihan provided military assistance to Pidao that it was gradually cleaned up and reorganized. The elite infantry battalion on Pi Island has a total of more than 2,000 officers and soldiers, including 1,000 musketeers, 120 artillerymen, and more than 700 pikemen, rattan soldiers and other soldiers equipped only with cold weapons. The remaining There are hundreds of clerks, handymen, craftsmen, military doctors, cooks and other support staff.
Of course, almost all the various standard firearms equipped by this elite infantry battalion were provided by Haihan. The gunmen and artillery were also trained by Haihan. These are all part of Haihan's military aid. It is not an exaggeration to say that this unit sent by Pidao is Haihan's auxiliary army. Although its combat power is far inferior to Haihan's regular army, it is intended to provide support on the battlefield and bully the Houjin Army, which has more primitive equipment. In fact, It's enough.
(End of chapter)